Mental health deteriorates due to parents, other unpaid caregivers during COVID-19: Shot

The COVID-19 pandemic is particularly difficult for unpaid caregivers, with many reported symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Portra images via Getty Images

Hide captions

Switch captions

Portra images via Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic is particularly difficult for unpaid caregivers, with many reported symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Portra images via Getty Images

The pandemic It has a big impact on people’s mental health.. However, a new report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that many of us see and feel in our lives. Especially devastating for adult parents and unpaid caregivers..

Two-thirds of the survey respondents identified as Unpaid caregiver He said he experienced mental health problems during the pandemic, including anxiety, depression symptoms, and suicidal ideation.

Only one-third of those who are not responsible for long-term care reported the same symptoms.

Of the more than 10,000 survey respondents, more than 40% were identified as unpaid caregivers.

“What’s striking here is how widespread unpaid long-term care responsibilities are in the population, and how much burden and sacrifice these responsibilities are.” Shantara Jaratonam, Co-author of the study and psychologist Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health At Monash University in Australia.

In this study, people who care for both children and adults under the age of 18 (many of whom are part of the sandwich generation) are in the worst of situations, and 85% of this group also have a negative impact on mental health. understood.

“It’s a very important study,” says psychologists. Drawless Gallagher Thompson, Professor Emeritus of Stanford University, who has studied family caregivers and their challenges.

This study was the first to document the problems that caregivers experienced during COVID-19, stating that “caregiver problems, the importance of paying attention to caregiver mental health”. It emphasizes the need for education and resources to better support.

The contrast between the caregiver and others is clear

Research, part of ongoing research by COVID-19 Outbreak Public Evaluation (COPE) InitiativeIs based on surveys conducted in December 2020 and February-March 2021.

More than half of those identified as caregivers said they experienced symptoms of anxiety, depression, or disorders such as PTSD associated with COVID-19 stress and trauma.

A significant number of caregivers said they were thinking of committing suicide. The study co-authors reported that nearly 40% had passive suicidal ideation. Mark Zeisler, A graduate student at Monash University and a research trainee at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

And more than 30% were serious about killing themselves — a study found that it was about five times the number of non-caregivers.

Overall, the impact on mental health is more serious for people who care for both children and adults. Half of the group said last month they seriously considered suicide.

The pandemic exacerbated the challenges faced by caregivers

Even before a pandemic, being an unpaid caregiver is stressful and High risk of mental health problems, Gallagher-Thompson says. The COVID-19 pandemic made things even more difficult.

For example, the pandemic has robbed many formal and informal sources of support for caregivers.

So did Dr. Nicole Christian Brasswaite. She is a Boston-based child psychiatrist who lives with her husband, mother, husband’s father, and two sons, ages 4 and 6.

Prior to the pandemic, her father-in-law with dementia went on a day program for the elderly with cognitive decline. Her mother, a survivor of breast and lung cancer, received physiotherapy twice a week, consulted a doctor, and met her friends.

When the pandemic broke out, they lost their services and social support — at the same time, Christian Brasswaite and her husband started working from home, caring for their son and parents.

Life at home has become much more complicated. Her sons developed behavioral problems associated with a pandemic transition and stress. Her mother suffered from chronic pain and was hospitalized during a pandemic. And there were days when her father-in-law was confused, confused, and aggressive.

“The whole setup was so fragile and vulnerable that for days I was walking on the edge waiting for something to happen,” says Christian-Brasswaite. “I’m exhausted.”

And her mental health is suffering. “I was certainly dealing with insomnia,” she says. “I was impatient. I was more annoyed. I didn’t have the same tolerance to things.”

More support needed to help caregivers deal with

The new study highlights the extent to which unpaid caregivers struggled during the pandemic, says Gallagher Thompson.

“There are some serious issues here that shouldn’t be ignored,” she says.

Nevertheless, caregivers are often ignored by health care systems that are set to focus solely on the patient.

“Family is rarely asked.’How does this affect you? What’s the challenge? How can we help you? Your role, you How can you support your work and fulfill your responsibilities? ”.

Support can make a big difference, as new studies show — respondents who could rely on others for caregiving help had a lower incidence of mental health symptoms.

Therefore, it is important to educate and support caregivers. For example, doctors can start by screening the patient’s caregiver’s mental health symptoms and provide more resources to those who need them, says Gallagher-Thompson.

Christian-Brathwaite hopes that new studies will help physicians recognize that it is just as important for family caregivers to consider when treating patients.

“Our patients cannot succeed without the support of their families, so we really need to take a step back and look at the villages around them,” she says.