The support for family members: A device favorable to communication in the couple

Freud used to say that the couple is a "crowd of two people". This is relationship with a specific way of working. The couple has habits, a way of life, and also more or less tacit rules. Before the sickness, the couple is weakened. Each individual lives a unique reality with its own fears, which are specific to him/her "I'm not allowed to complain, he/she is the one who is sick...". An asymmetry is created between "the one who is ill" and "the one who is (supposed to be) healthy". Yet, the caregivers are affected within their body and their soul. Sleeping disorders, Appetite troubles, both mental and physical fatigue are observed very often. A feeling of powerlessness, guilt, non-legitimacy to "express what he feels to his ill relative is important". An atmosphere full of unsaid things is developed. Through clinical cases, we will go from the observation that the support provided to the close family enables the personal resources of the caregiver and fosters the interpersonal "alignment", the communication within the coupe. Supporting the couple throughout the different crises caused by the disease can help to find a new momentum. In a preventive way, this encourages transmission and helps the widowed-to-come in its journey to the loss of his beloved. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.