It is hard to overemphasize the importance of having a strong support mechanism. Being isolated, or alienated from those around you, can exacerbate the negative psychological effects of chronic pain.
When pain and physical decline is overly prominent, a person’s self-identity can easily become dominated by these undeniable realities. Those of us who have nurtured our own self reliance seem to have more difficulty recognizing our coping difficulties, and the need to get support.
It is not uncommon to experience depression and other effects from the perceptions of age-related decline. Coupling that with chronic pain can have pronounced effects on most anyone.
I am reluctant to be as harsh to anyone else as I am to myself in facing these effects, mostly because I am not “qualified” to evaluate anyone else’s situation, or their coping “skills”.
Sometimes the hardest thing is to acknowledge what is working and what is not, and to behave accordingly.
Edit: It’s all about me