10 Common Reactions to Urinary Incontinence that Impede Care-Seeking

Our lives are a dynamic flurry of family and professional activities — our work, our families and friends, and duties on the home front. Some of us have additional challenges due to ill health, financial stress, elder care or marital breakdown. When small urine leaks begin to appear every now and then, they might feel like a nuisance amid the noise of everyday life. Research tells us that women wait about five to 10 years to seek assistance for urinary incontinence. Our beliefs about the problem are important because they influence how and when we take action. The following are 10 common reactions that deter or delay sufferers, especially women, from seeking professional advice or assistance for the problem: It’s a private problem. When sufferers say “incontinence is private,” they reveal their feelings of vulnerability, embarrassment or shame about the condition. While these emotions are normal reactions to urinary problems, they also evoke the desire to draw inward in self-protection (Hagglund & Wadensten, 2007). Urinary problems are hereditary. Sufferers are discouraged from seeking assistance when urinary changes are viewed as an inherited problem. Why heredity beliefs discourage sufferers from seeking care is not well understood — in fact, many health problems that are inherited (consider diabetes and heart disease) benefit from medical care. Incontinence is a normal part of aging or childbirth. Some women believe urinary leakage to be &...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Tags: Aging General Health-related Women's Issues Health Care Provider Middle Age Pregnancy Urinary bladder Urinary incontinence Urination Women's Health Source Type: blogs