Diapers and Bed-Wetting: Stigma and Ways to Reduce It

This raises an interesting question-is the fact that diapers have such a negative image by most of society the result of assimilating the opinions of most medical professionals,or is the negative opinion of diapers by most medical professionals influenced by how the public feels-the proverbial chicken or egg debate. How much of our attitudes regarding diaper use by older bed wetters is influenced by cultural attitudes,parents and other relatives,medical professionals,and other factors?How and to what degree do these factors interact with each other?I think it would be interesting to study this issue in depth.

  By gaining better insight into how these ideas developed we might have a deeper understanding of why we have such negative attitudes regarding this issue which in turn might significantly reduce the stigma associated with using diapers to manage bed-wetting in older children,adolescents,teenagers,and adults.

  To get back to self-image older children and teenagers are particularly sensitive and concerned with self-image and the image that diapers conjure up in most peoples minds are babies. Commercials also stress this. For example the ad for Huggies pull-ups has the following motto-”I'm a big kid now!” the implication being that only babies wear diapers. I have heard urologists,pediatricians,and other medical professionals(who in my opinion should be more sensitive and also should know better regarding this issue) claim that putting an older child,teen,or adult in diapers at night makes them feel undignified but to me it's more undignified waking up in pee soaked sheets and clothing!

  It would be interesting to see how developmental psychologists feel about this issue. We tend to have certain preconceived notions about our child's growth process and if they deviate from that in the slightest we become alarmed. For example children should talk by a certain age,they should read by a certain age,they should walk by a certain age,etc. And while it is true that we should have reasonable parameters established for these situations in order to rule out the possibility of cognitive and/or physical problems,the same reasoning shouldn't be applied in my opinion to the use of diapers and plastic pants for the management of bed-wetting in older children,adolescents,teenagers,and adults.

  Frequently we feel pressured to use socially accepted methods to resolve various medical issues but in some cases it's a good idea to consider alternative approaches and this may entail using methods that a large majority consider unorthodox or not accepted by the mainstream. A case in point is the following. In the May-June 2007 issue of AARP magazine there was an article on Naomi Judd. It talked about how the traditional treatments that were used by her doctors to treat her hepatitis were not working so she tried various non traditional methods which are not fully accepted by western medicine such as biofeedback,aromatherapy,and meditation. It turns out that these methods worked.