Editorial
THE HIDDEN STORM: AN EMOTIONAL JOURNEY WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES
Suddenly, an invasive intruder changed our lives forever. Manuel was seven years old when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D), which led to a complete reorganization of our family.
The Hidden Storm explores the emotional world surrounding a chronic condition such as diabetes. It emanates from a personal journey and shares the experiences of people looking for some balance in a world of unpredictability. People’s stories led to research, discoveries, and understanding of the theories underlying the experiences, as most diabetes-related symptoms have been extensively studied.
Diabetes taught me that many people experience similar emotions while thinking they are alone. Twenty-five years after my son’s diagnosis, conversations with people with T1D made me aware of important gaps in personal knowledge about emotions in chronic illnesses.
The hidden storm draws on my dual perspective as a mother and a therapist, offering what is often missing in the conversation about diabetes: the emotional side of medical care.
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About the author
Marie-Noëlle Crabbé
Marie-Noëlle Crabbé held various management positions in areas of business and international trade before graduating from Harvard University with a master’s in educational psychology. She practiced as a family therapist and specialized in conflict resolution to work in corporate and humanitarian contexts. Her experience led her to become a corporate social responsibility auditor, a profession she practiced for twelve years in the USA, The Carribean and throughout Europe.
Marie-Noëlle wrote her first book during the 2020 pandemic, offering her perspective on social responsibility auditing and how to achieve her goals. Journal of a Social Auditor (2020) is available in English, French and Spanish. An essay on ESG strategies in the midst of the COVID crisis develops the social part of this new corporate trilogy (2022); the essay is available in English. Testimonios de una vida pastoral en el Perú is a tribute to a ‘Belgian prophet in Peru’, available in Spanish and published by Centro de Estudios y Publicaciones, Lima (2024).
Contact: noelle@imago-int.eu
Know more about this publication
The Hidden Storm is not just a book about diabetes. It deals with what it means to grow up emotionally with a chronic illness that makes people feel different. The project started with interviews of people with T1D, who expressed their concerns and hopes regarding their emotional wellbeing. While all participants received good medical care, few had emotional support, and it was all the more troubling because emotional distress affected most of them.
This perspective turns to the inner landscape of living with T1D. Emotions can ripple into our routines, influencing how we eat, sleep, work and connect with others. Medical care is indispensable, but so too is personal care: when emotional well-being walks hand in hand with treatment, life with T1D becomes manageable, meaningful and fulfilling, lightening some of the weight of the disease.
North-American and European children, adolescents and adults with T1D joined Manuel with their stories to illustrate the research. Parents raising children with T1D added their comments to mine. Exchanges and interviews were conducted in person, by telephone or by mail, in different countries and different languages.
Whether you are a person with type 1 diabetes, the parent of a child with T1D, a caregiver, or someone seeking to understand this peculiar disease, I hope you find in these pages more than stories and facts. I hope you recognize yourself at times and find a connection: the kind of connection that makes you feel less alone.
Marie-Noëlle Crabbé’s personal and professional worlds come together in the story of her son’s diagnosis with type 1 diabetes (T1D) at the age of seven. Twenty-five years later, she meets children, teenagers and adults living with T1D, facing similar challenges across ages and across borders. The hidden storm weaves the author’s experience as a therapist with those of witnesses who reveal the challenges of growing up and living with diabetes, inspiring resilience in the face of a chronic disease.