Sometimes their efforts can create uncomfortable images. Photographs appeared yesterday of Mrs McCann jogging, wearing black shorts and crop top, midriff on show.
While her trips to church seemed right, the sight of her devoting time to keep fit may have seemed disquieting.
But Mrs McCann was following the advice of two trauma consultants. Alan Pike and Martin Alderton from the Centre for Crisis Psychology flew to Portugal within hours of Madeleine going missing. They have been at the parents' side ever since. They told the couple to take a short amount of time out from each day for themselves. A walk or run is one of the techniques that they recommend.
Kevin Tasker, clinical director of the CCP, said: "We try to help them reinstate normal routines as soon as possible. That is what life is about. Every day is about routine.
"Work, social, home. And if you do not get back into that there will be times when you are alone and thinking too much, ruminating on negative thoughts." It was the trauma consultants who proposed that they go to the beach and do normal family things with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.
The jogging photographs confirmed the impression that Mr and Mrs McCann on the surface appear remarkably strong. But each night they are woken by nightmares. Each day they work in a makeshift office in their villa, planning the next initiative to remind the world that their daughter has not come home.