On this day marking Blue Monday, the saddest day of the year, we share an opinion article by Dr. Filomena Sousa, Clinical Psychologist at CNS – Campus Neurológico, in which she warns about the fact that caregivers can also become ill and emphasizes the importance of supporting them.
Neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, or other dementias, have consequences that can affect not only the patient but also their family and caregivers.
Caring for a sick person is a challenging task. In most cases, family members are unaware (since they have not been prepared) of what awaits them and how much will be demanded of them. In addition to the demands associated with caregiving tasks, it often requires a restructuring of the daily routine, compromising in some cases the rest and well-being of the caregiver.
Caregivers often experience complex and ambivalent feelings, such as anger, guilt, fear, distress, confusion, fatigue, stress, sadness, nervousness, irritation, crying, fear of death, or disability. Additionally, due to the accumulation of physical, mental, and social wear and tear, they are a group more predisposed to suffer from depression, anxiety, psychosomatic disorders, sleep disturbances, and chronic diseases. It is important to raise awareness among the general public, and specifically caregivers, about the fact that caregivers can also become ill, and that the caregiver’s illness not only affects the caregiver themselves but also the person they care for.
The better caregivers know how to deal with the situations they face, the more emotional and functional stability they will have to face problems and contribute. Recognizing and acknowledging signs of stress (anger, isolation, exhaustion, lack of concentration, anxiety, and pronounced sadness) in caregivers, both by the caregiver themselves and by family and friends, is the first step in taking action. There are two ways to support caregivers: individually, through clinical psychology consultations, and in groups.
Group intervention adds to individual intervention, on the one hand, minimizing the isolation to which these people are often subjected, and on the other hand, the possibility of identifying with similar situations, which are mirrored by others. Specifically, they allow for the exchange of experiences, interaction, understanding, and emotional support among caregivers. They function as a way to share and discover alternative solutions, so they are usually an efficient help.
Group intervention has three specific purposes:
- Help and support its members to overcome stressful life events: they are an important means to support family members who are discouraged, scared, sad, or struggling to deal with the limitations/adaptations inherent to the disease of the person they care for;
- Promote the exchange of information: meetings are vehicles of essential information for the quality of life of the person with a neurological disease and the caregiver. It is known that an informed caregiver is better prepared and has better conditions to provide quality care. Additionally, simple strategies are also shared to minimize overload and stress, for the caregiver to implement in their daily routine.
- Teach new procedures related to care from the experience of other caregivers who have also gone through the same situation. Through sharing situations experienced by other group members, the caregiver and/or family member can learn what to do when faced with the same situation and also what to avoid doing in certain cases.
In conclusion, we all have a duty to support caregivers so that they do not feel alone. For this, it is not only important for family and friends to be close but also to create moments where caregivers can meet and develop friendships with people going through similar situations.