Taking Care of Me: Getting Help for Depression and Burnout After Years of Caregiving

Sometimes you don’t realize you’ve been drowning until the moment you’re pulled to safety, gulping fresh air again. Like others who’ve battled depression, I didn’t fully comprehend how dark I felt while muddling through it.  Even in my darkest moments, I tried to pretend everything was fine. I’d been raised to be strong and capable during a crisis — to count my blessings and refrain from complaining. Never wanting to burden my family or friends, I often hid my pain. And the more I tried to downplay my sadness, the more isolated I felt.  The terrible sense of drowning began several months after my mother’s death — though I really started losing her seven years before she died. Vascular dementia had changed her personality, making her angry, paranoid, and fearful. The close relationship we’d once enjoyed began to unravel as her disease progressed. By the time Mom died, she was a woman I no longer recognized — and I was depleted by the ongoing stress of her care management.  Numbing Out Months afterward, I was still struggling to come to terms with my loss. At first I was numb, and then I talked myself into believing I hadn’t done enough for my mother when she was alive. Having written several newspaper articles on the topic of stress and care-giving, I should have known better. I should have spared some compassion for myself. Regardless, my outlook plummeted. I began losing interest in the people, things, and creative a...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Caregivers Personal Burnout caregiving Depression Elderly Self Care Source Type: blogs