ARTICLE

FindCenter AddIcon

What Those with Chronic Pain or Illness DON’T Want to Hear

By Toni Bernhard — 2012

I've written this piece partly because I hope it will make those of us with health difficulties feel less alone and partly because I hope it will help others understand how to communicate with us better. With that in mind, I hope you'll find it helpful. Each of the following comments has been made to me at least once since I became ill in 2001.

Read on www.psychologytoday.com

FindCenter Post-Image

The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War

One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue—known as Chick—was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now they watched as antiwar protesters turned on the troops themselves.

Book
John "Chick" Donohue, J.T. Molloy
2021
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

Loving Your Friend Through Cancer: Moving Beyond “I’m Sorry” to Meaningful Support

“It’s cancer.” When you hear the two words you dread most from someone you care about, you know at once that your friend’s life has been turned upside down. Whether she’s a good friend, a best friend, or just an acquaintance, you want to be supportive.

Book
Marissa Henley
2025
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery

In this vulnerable, insightful memoir, the New York Times columnist tells the story of his five-year struggle with a disease that officially doesn’t exist, exploring the limits of modern medicine, the stories that we unexpectedly fall into, and the secrets that only suffering reveals.

Book
Ross Douthat
2021
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image
07:16

Cancer Patients on How to Talk to Them About Having Cancer

Vice talks to three cancer patients and survivors to get a better understanding for how to treat people with the illness.

Video
2020
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

Living Beyond Limits: New Hope and Help for Facing Life-Threatening Illness

A pioneer in the world of mind-body healing, the author provides support and guidance for those living with life-threatening illness, showing how, with the help of support groups, people can live longer and fuller lives.

Book
David Spiegel
1993
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell that Changed the Course of Medicine

Hailed as a “riveting,” “stunning,” and “visionary,” The Angel and the Assassin offers us a radically reconceived picture of human health and promises to change everything we thought we knew about how to heal ourselves.

Book
Donna Jackson Nakazawa
2025
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

We meet no ordinary people in our lives.

Quote
C. S. Lewis
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness

Why do some people find and sustain hope during difficult circumstances, while others do not? What can we learn from those who do, and how is their example applicable to our own lives? The Anatomy of Hope is a journey of inspiring discovery, spanning some thirty years of Dr.

Book
Jerome Groopman
2005
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

Close to the Bone: Life-Threatening Illness as a Soul Journey

This is a book for any person who is living with a life-threatening illness and for anyone who is caring for and/or loves a person who is ill. Bolen affirms that the price of going into the scary places, of feeling like a piece of green meat on a hook, is high, but worth it. We have no choice.

Book
Jean Shinoda Bolen
2007
FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Post-Image

There Is No Good Card for This: What to Say and Do When Life Is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love

The creator of the viral hit “Empathy Cards” teams up with a compassion expert to produce a visually stunning and groundbreaking illustrated guide to help you increase your emotional intelligence and learn how to offer comfort and support when someone you know is in pain.

Book
Kelsey Crowe, Emily McDowell
2017
FindCenter AddIcon

EXPLORE TOPIC

Offering Support to Others