What can families do to help patients cope with a spinal cord injury? - Terrie Price, PhD

First of all, how is the family member coping? Because the person who loves them is looking at them as well, to interpret this experience. So I would encourage them to be in touch with their own anxiety, their own tension and work on that; that’s the first place to start. While it is important to be encouraging of the individual, it is also important to not be the kind of person who says something that isn’t going to come across as genuine. An individual is very sensitive to that, we’re all sensitive to that—telling me that everything is going to be okay, that I can do this. And that may be the truth, but I certainly don’t feel it at the time.