Optimal management of diabetes mellitus is a significant challenge for patients; understanding how best to help is a similarly complex task for healthcare professionals. Achieving optimal plasma glucose is difficult, and many issues affect adjustment and self-management. Understanding how diabetes weaves into the complexity of an individual’s personality and their life is crucial. As well as coping with the lifestyle and intellectual challenges demanded by their diagnosis, patients are also required to process the emotional consequences of having to live with a demanding, progressive condition for the rest of their lives.