Making the decision to be a family caregiver for your aging parent is one of the biggest steps that you will take in your life. When you make this decision you are committing to giving your time, energy, effort, and resources to make sure that your aging parent’s needs are met and that they are able to live the highest quality of life possible as they age in place. When you make this choice it is likely that you anticipate feeling stress. Caregivers are known to be at risk of far higher levels of stress and vulnerable to greater consequences as a result of that stress than those who are not in this type of care position. What happens, however, when that stress goes to an extreme level and you feel that you just cannot take any more? You may be dealing with caregiver burnout.
Caregiver burnout is not just about stress. This condition is a state of complete exhaustion that affects your mental, emotional, and physical health, well-being, and functioning. When dealing with burnout you may experience a total shift in your personality, thoughts, and perceptions. This can cause you to look at your parent not with care, love, and desire to help them, but rather with resentment, disdain, or total apathy.
Burnout occurs when a caregiver puts so much of themselves into caring for their parent that they forget to manage their own needs, or take on too many tasks and fully exhaust and frustrate themselves. This can be a very difficult and even dangerous condition that can negatively impact your health and well-being, as well as the quality of care that you can give to your parent. It is important to pay attention to how you are coping with the stresses of being a caregiver so that you can detect when you might be at risk of burnout so you can make the adjustments you need to in order to protect yourself and your caregiver arrangement.
If you have been looking for ways to enhance your aging parent’s quality of life and ensure that they get all of the care, support, assistance, and encouragement that they need throughout their later years, now may be the ideal time for you to consider starting elder care for them. An elderly home care services provider can be with your parent on a customized schedule to ensure that they are with them as much as they need to be, while also keeping you at the forefront of their care routine. Through a set of highly personalized services your parent can maintain a high level of physical activity, engage with the world around them, keep their mind active, and support as much independence as possible as they age in place. As their family caregiver this can give you tremendous peace of mind knowing that even when you are not able to be with your parent, they are still in good hands.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring elder care in Greenville, SC, contact Heart of the Carolinas Home Care at 864-991-3116. Providing Home Care Services in Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Anderson, Spartanburg, Mauldin, Seneca, Laurens, Charleston, Columbia and the surrounding areas.
Sources
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs381/en/
https://www.nami.org/NAMI/media/NAMI-Media/Infographics/GeneralMHFacts.pdf
https://www.caregiver.org/pilotIntegration/indexPersistent.html?uri=%2Fcaregiver-health
http://www.webmd.com/women/caregiver-recognizing-burnout
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