Hashimoto Thyroiditis

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is defined as an autoimmune disease (Bishay, 2016). The lymphocytes of the body attack the thyroid and affect the functioning of it. This has some serious consequences to the person experiencing this life altering disease (Kırmızıbekmez, 2014). This is a disease which affects body’s functionality, energy, sleeping, fatigue, metabolism and much more (Bishay, 2016). Hashimoto’s takes a toll on its victims and often they can fall into depressed and discouraged states (Lieu, 2011). Psychologists, specifically health psychologists, could play a key role in managing symptoms and improving quality of life if they are involved in the treatment and coping of the patient dealing with this disease. The purpose of this paper is
They could walk them through The Theory of Planned Behavior to help them examine their behavior to elicit a change (Rich, 2015). Due to the symptoms as mentioned previously, a patient will have a struggle to live daily life. This is a life altering disease and can cause some severe bodily dysfunction (Bishay, 2016). This will also affect the family of the person with this disease drastically. Because of the drastic effect on the diseased person and their family, this offers a health psychologist a unique opportunity to engage both the family, and the patient (Fisher, 2014). Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the psychologist will be able to point out actions to the patients and family to examine what behaviors are having a negative and positive effect. Once examined, the information could used to make an effective change. (Rich,
As seen from the symptoms, this is a debilitating disease that can often alter a person’s life in many ways. Adherence to treatment should be key in a patient’s life when dealing with this chronic illness (Fisher, 2014). Another key symptom to be noticed and observed for a health psychologist is depression (Giynas Ayhan, 2014). Adherence is important for a health psychologist to enforce because without adherence the patient cannot show any improvement. The Theory of Planned Behavior can be used in the case of adherence to show the negative effects of stopping treatments. A simple step using motivational interviewing, or simply stating the obvious could point out the negative effects to cause a change in behavior (Rich, 2015). Depression should be treated with caution in this case, but can be traced back to adherence to treatment. If the patient has a beneficial treatment and stops taking the medicine it could have the symptoms reoccur and cause a relapse. Relapse can increase the chance of depression (Giynas Ayhan, 2014). While it may seem like an easy fix, in the case of Hashimosto’s adherence to treatment is the most important and can limit symptoms such as