Help and self-help

Serious diagnoses also hit relatives hard

Relatives want to be there for their sick loved ones, but also often need support themselves.(Bild: Stigur/peopleimages.com - stock.adobe.com)

A serious diagnosis - such as cancer or Parkinson's disease, as was recently the case with former Vienna mayor Michael Häupl - not only upsets the lives of the patients concerned. Relatives also go through a tough time. Finding the right words, providing meaningful help and taking care of yourself at the same time is often difficult. Read here how you can do this.

Michaela H. was deeply shocked when her best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. The two women had known each other since their school days and had been going through thick and thin together for years. The tumor was discovered late and the prognosis is uncertain. Michaela H.'s girlfriend had to have an operation and immediately started chemotherapy. She cries a lot and is afraid of not seeing her children grow up. Michaela H. wants to be there for her - visits her every day, supports her husband in everyday life and, above all, tries to be an emotional support.

Burnout after girlfriend's diagnosis
"Best friends are there for each other, even in bad times," she says with conviction. For a long time, she doesn't want to admit that the workload alongside her own life - Michaela H. works full-time and has three children herself - is gradually becoming too much for her. "But I also deteriorated quickly both physically and mentally, I was constantly crying and wanted to pull myself together for my friend - after all, she is terminally ill, so what am I moaning about here?" Then came the rude awakening this year: insomnia, panic attacks, depressive moods.