HEALTHY FAMILY REACTIONS TO ILLNESS: SUMMARY

Even healthy families react to illness in ways that show that coping with illness is an evolving process, not a single event. Families do not automatically get this adjustment "right" and then go on from there. Rather, they are forever having to readjust, modify, and reevaluate their coping strategies.
However, healthy families adjust to illness not only by surviving but by actually improving the overall quality of their relations with one another. Following the stress and distress experienced during the initial and intermediate stages of adjustment, healthy families begin to reorganize relatively quickly.
The shock of the illness often results in family members reevaluating their relationships with one another. In the light of this honest look into the mirror of the family, they renew their appreciation of and commitments to one another. Such positive reactions will occur in your family if you relate to each other in ways that

• maintain communication and organization within the family;
• promote independence and self-esteem for each member;
• maintain family bonds and family unity;
• encourage role change and flexibility;
• maintain social supports and outside-the-family activities; and
• control the impact of stress so that the family does not lose its organization.