Self Esteem and Heart Disease: Scars

Issues with self-esteem and cardiovascular disease are often linked, as CVD can impact every aspect of one's future goals and career. and romantic life.

It is difficult to retain self-esteem when one is ill, especially when the illness has a social, cultural, and professional stigma that often makes one seem unreliable and even unwanted. As a result, the individual can be viewed as more of a burden than they are worth, especially to themselves.

This narrative is the cause of suffering for many of the 523 million people afflicted with cardiovascular disease. Whether the scars from surgeries, complications, or the psychological impacts of the illness and the uncertainty that comes along with it, it is difficult to regain one's sense of self-worth if it feels like the world shifted beneath your feet and will never be realigned.

Scars from heat surgery can often be large and difficult to hide, leaving a permanent reminder of the ordeal so many try to forget. According to the article "The Significance of Cardiac Surgery Scars In Adult Patients With Congenital Heart Disease" by Michal J. Kantoch and others, these scars impacted the self-esteem and behavior of cardiovascular patients, as noted in the chart below.

As one can see, a significant portion of patients in this study felt disfigured, concealed their scars, felt negative when attention was upon them, and had low self-esteem and low self-confidence due to their scars.

However, on the positive side, this study showed an appreciation of health, which 54% reported negatively, with 68% responding positively to the question (Kañtoch et al., 2006). Thus, there is a direct correlation between self-esteem and scars left by cardiovascular disease.

Thus, this article confirms "the general perception that chest scars resulting from heart surgery may affect patients' body image and several aspects of daily life" (Kañtoch et al., 2006). While it does have an impact, this does not mean that there is no hope for those who suffer from this side effect of cardiovascular disease.

Many believe this sort of low self-esteem is as simple as pushing yourself up through self-help books and meditation. Perhaps this does help some; however, in my experience, regaining self-esteem impacted by surgery scars/cardiovascular disease complications is like lifting yourself up while being bound with invisible chains that will never go away. Getting up is not impossible, but it is extremely difficult.

As there is no cure for heart disease, the better it is managed, the more likely one is to raise self-esteem and continue to move ahead—one step at a time.

Reference list

Kañtoch, M.J., Eustace, J., Collins-Nakal, R.L., Taylor, D.A., Boisvert, J.A. and Lysak, P.S. (2006). The Significance of Cardiac Surgery Scars In Adult Patients With Congenital Heart Disease. pp.51–56.