Psychological problems in the healthy siblings of patients affected by serious neuromuscular illness: A preliminary study

The influence of the chronic progressive illness on psychological development and emotional balance of people suffering from progressive diseases and the effects that chronic illness has on the interpersonal and intra and extra-familial relationships of the children with such histories have already been described. Instead, data available up till now concerning the effect of a chronic and/or progressive illness in one sibling on the emotional development of healthy siblings are relatively scarce. The authors report their personal experience concerning the psychological problems in some healthy siblings of patients with severe neuromuscular diseases and describe in detail 4 cases.