Caregivers Top List of Most-Stressed, Psychologists Say
By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor
From the Department of News You Already Know All Too Well: Caregivers are among three of the most particularly stressed groups of Americans right now, according to the American Psychological Association's new Stress in America report.
Caregivers are not only more likely to report stress than other Americans; they also report it at higher levels. Caregivers are more likely than the general public to have a chronic illness (82 percent vs. 61 percent) and to rate their own health as fair or poor (34 percent vs. 20 percent). Caregivers also appear to manage stress in less healthy ways than the general population. Caregivers are twice as likely, for example, to report smoking to manage their stress (20 percent vs. 10 percent).
The other highly stressed groups identified in the report: The obese and the depressed. Given that weight control is challenging for caregivers, and given that caregivers are at elevated risk for depression, this means that many caregivers face a triple-whammy of stress.
Among the annual report's other highlights:
One in five Americans say they're under "extreme stress" (rated as 8 or higher on a 10-point scale).
Almost one-third of Americans still mistakenly don't believe stress has an impact on their physical health (31 percent) or mental health (34 percent).
Of those surveyed, 39 percent report their stress has increased over the past year and 44 percent say their stress has increased over the past 5 years.
Quiz yourself: Are you headed for caregiver burnout?.
To help you manage caregiver stress, learn about the supportive resources that can steer you away from burnout.
Overdoing things to the point it makes a person ill or die is counterproductive. If it reaches a point where there is complete disruption.. maybe it's time to seek outside help. There is nothing wrong with getting help when you are overwhelmed.
Thankless jobs are always the most stressful. We generally are caregivers for family members with which there can be residual, deep-rooted animosity that has been swept under the rug for many years, even decades. We must always remember, God is watching and keeping score so even if you get stressed out and react instead of respond to your loved ones He will forgive you and He knows what you are going through. When I took care of my mother with emphysema I stayed up all night for a year and a half. I slept from 6 am to 11 am. I was so stressed out and tired. I even got where I couldn't lay down in bed or I would feel like I was spinning backwards so I had to sleep sitting up in a chair. It is extremely important to take a little time for yourself, don't feel guilty about doing so, not counting on family to help because they generally will not and then get back to caregiving. Remember Friedrich Nietzsche who said, "What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger."
I took the burnout quiz and came up with a score of 18. I've been a widow since 1989, and I'm 64 years old now. I was already taking care of my 34-year-old son who is mentally handicapped, and now I find myself ALSO taking care of my 90-year-old mother who has Alzheimer's PLUS lots of medical problems. Now, I find myself taking care of T W O mentally-handicapped people (and three dogs) in addition to nearly EVERYTHING else: cooking, washing dishes non stop, laundry, cleaning, the shopping, running errands, yard work, and doing light home repairs (when my energy allows). PLUS, I 'used' to grow and maintain a nearly 1,200 sq. ft. vegetable garden (because of the high cost of food these days); but, of course, with the addition of taking care of my mother, I cut the size of my garden down to third. I have to help my mother with ther bath; wash her hair and dry it using one of those round brushes to give her the 'fluff' in her hair. She's STUCK in the 50's style of hair and has never changed. When she has a doctor appointment I have to pick out her clothes as she doesn't 'remember' HOW to dress to visit a doctor. I have to maintain her multitude of pills in one of those weekly things, and I'm constantly running to the pharmacy to either pick up pills or bring in new ones for refills. When she was on Coumadin, there were times when I was having to drive her to the doctor as much as '4' times a week. They never did get the Coumadin regulated and she was put on Paradoxa which has worked wonderfully. Because of her Alzheimer's, she does not comprehend anything the doctors tell her; thus, the burden falls on me to follow their instructions. To move my mother into my house has, literally, destroyed my and my son's lives. I gave my mother my bedroom and bathroom (to keep her on the main floor of the house), and I moved into the family-room area in the basement, and I'm, LITERALLY, living out of cardboard boxes! ALL my clothes and belongings from my bedroom are now in CARDBOARD boxes! I've ALSO been dealing with the anger my son has because my mother has basically 'taken over' the main level of the house; consequently, he spends most of his time in his bedroom as he doesn't like being around her. Not to mention the Alzheimer's, there's too much of a generational gap between my mother and my son and the things my son does that my mother (who lived in another state) never did with 'her' son (my brother). My son is into ALL sports; and, since we live in Minnesota, who fishes and ice fishes in the winter, ice skates playing hockey on outdoor rinks in the winter, etc. This is all FOREIGN to my mother. "i" also have a problem because of the fact that my mother and I never lived any where near each other in '44 years!!!! She lived in the west, and before I moved to Minnesota, I always lived in the east. I didn't realize until I moved her into my house that we NEVER did have anything in common and have NOTHING to talk about even without the Alzheimer's. It's a V E R Y difficult/nightmarish situation we're living under. My life was already TOO BUSY with too many resposibilities with just taking care of memtally-handicapped son and all the rest of the things to be done around a house, and now my life has EXPLODED with the addition with also having to care for a 90-year-old mother with Alzheimer's and LOTS of physical problems (including low-grade bladder cancer and chronic kidney disease)!
Hugs homespun