Adapting to a new condition

With SCI, adjustment is defined as adapting to a new condition. We all are forced to make adjustments during our lifetime. Some of these adjustments may be planned and we have time to think about how we are going to react to the situation. Adjustments to living with spinal cord injury, SCI include a decrease in household income along with a significant increase in medical expenses. This is why it is so important to have an experienced spinal cord injury lawyer on your side with the knowledge and dedication to help you understand your legal rights following a spinal cord injury accident.

Family Adjustment

For SCI survivors, it is important to recognize that your family and loved ones are also significantly impacted by your injury. Even those closest to you who may still have full use of their limbs will most likely experience a loss of the way their life was before your injury. Many people living with family members with SCI find themselves taking on the role of caregiver. They may need to work to help with family finances. The inability to predict a new and very different future can lead additional stress factors and anxiety.

Family members also grieve after injury. They may ask a lot of questions in an effort to fully understand the impact of the injury and to facilitate the easing up of their feelings of sadness and fear. As the family member comes to accept the injury, they may face issues of adjustment similar to those of the injury survivor.

Healthy Family Adjustment to SCI

For loved ones living with a spinal cord injury, SCI survivor, it is vitally important that they never forget they can't help if they don't take care of themselves.

This can entail joining a support group for others in similar situations and not being afraid to ask for help or a break when they need one. For example, you can take time away from your loved one to do those things that you enjoy. You can help minimize your stress and anxiety by working to replace your own false assumptions, unrealistic ideas, and irrational beliefs. The best way to begin is to learn as much as possible about SCI.