Cognitive and emotional support for the family of a person with frontotemporal degeneration - with particular consideration given to a minor

The diagnosis of frontotemporal degeneration changes the entire family, being an unexpected and emotionally burdening experience for all the individuals in the family. Confrontation with problems that are diametrically different from those that occur in the family system without a person with a major neurocognitive disorder requires the development of new coping strategies. If these coping mechanisms are to be useful, they should undergo successive modifications that consider the progression of the neurodegenerative disease and the dynamics of the family system. Providing information on different aspects of this group of diseases is the basic form of supporting families with frontotemporal degeneration. Growing up in a family with a parent affected by frontotemporal degeneration is a crucial, though non-normative, developmental experience of a child. It results in an irreversible loss of the existing relationship and the necessity to form another relationship with the affected parent. The paper focuses on providing support for a minor. Graphic medicine can be a support tool, which combines verbal communication with graphics, and, as a result, it provides knowledge on health problems and also creates the possibility of expressing emotions triggered by the presence of the disease in the family.