How To Be A Good Relative?

As a relative/caregiver, you might be met with a sense of ungratefulness from your family, friends, or partner when you try to help.

How are you a good relative? How should you support your loved ones? Anders Frimann delves into his experience as a patient and gives good advice.

As a relative, you might be met with a sense of ungratefulness from your family, friends, or partner when you try to help.

Sometimes you have to take a deep breath and remember that the behavior doesn't necessarily have anything to do with you, but that it can also be related to a possible mental illness or perhaps a physical or somatic illness.

Your loved one is likely under pressure on many fronts, and it can feel like a violation of boundaries when you, as a relative, try to take control of the situation or talk about things that your loved one does not want to talk about.

The reason they don't want to talk about it may be that it makes them emotional: Angry, mad, irritated, or sad.

Sometimes it is nicer to live in a reality where you are not sick, or where you do not feel like a misfit in society.

Getting sick is an identity crisis for most people, and it is important for a relative to understand that there are many things that can turn life upside down for the person who is ill, even if your loved one cannot put it into words.