A new report has highlighted the psychosocial impact of living with diabetes – with over a third of adults with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes and a quarter with type 1 diabetes reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms.
The Diabetes MILES-2 report also found high levels of diabetes distress and diabetes-related stigma yet few people were engaging with support groups.
Dr Adriana Ventura, psychologist and research fellow at The Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes, said the situation had not improved since a similar survey in 2011.
“We need more awareness that there is a psychological burden associated with living with diabetes. Health professionals need to be listening to their patients and asking questions about how they are coping,” she told the limbic.
The report found almost a quarter (24%) of people with type 1 diabetes reported high levels of diabetes stress including worry about their future health and guilt or anxiety about managing their diabetes.
“We think people are doing a good job managing their physical health but there is a backlash or overwhelm that is overtaking their social or emotional needs,” Dr Ventura said.
She said it was important to recognise that the impact of diabetes on a patient’s psychological health was likely to change as they aged and their disease progressed.