This book started the Self-Management approach to chronic illness. I trained in the Self-Management program and have led groups for years, and have seen people make wonderful changes. This experience and knowledge inspired me to write my book, The Art of Getting Well.

Drs Lorig, Holman, Sobel and the other authors lay out all you need to know to develop your programs of exercise, relaxation, emotional support, and healthy eating. They also teach how to deal successfully with medical systems and treatments.

The book stresses living the best possible life, not just following medical orders or watching everything you eat. It's an excellent complement to my book, which will provide some inspiration to attempt the behavior changes that "Living a Healthy Life" explains so well.

This book does an excellent job of presenting how chronic illness patients are overwhelmed and how they can aggressively
confront the debilitating cycle and successfully manage the lifestyles they must lead. Everyone with a chronic illness is forced to live differently than all others, no matter their age.
The book analyzes and describes the depleting cycle that anyone with a chronic, dibilitating illness encounters, and offers proven solutions on how to break the debilitating cycle and progress outward inspite of the illness.

This book, written in a very simple, "self-help" style, seems to be geared to the senior citizen suffering from chronic illness and emphasizes developing and implementing management plans for exercise, diet, and medical care. While much of it is common sense, it does offer bulleted, structured outlines for communicating with medical professionals, managing medicines, planning for the future (and possibly greater physical degeneration), and most of all acknowledges the feelings and depression that often accompany chronic illness.