Caregiver Burnout: How to Identify and Reverse Course

Professional in-home caregivers typically have experience caring for seniors and receive compensation for their work. But family caregivers who find themselves in the demanding role of caregiving often don’t set out to provide long-term care, typically haven’t received training, and don’t have the built-in benefits of professional service like time off and pay.

As a result, these volunteer family caregivers experience higher levels of stress, frustration, and even depression than their professional caregiver and non-caregiver peers. In time, if caregiver stress — which can lead to caregiver burnout — isn’t dealt with, the caregiver may experience adverse health effects, including a higher mortality rate.

The good news is that there are simple, straightforward ways to prevent caregiver burnout and help reverse its effects. Read on to learn more about caregiver burnout, including its causes and treatments.

Read more:Free Online Family Caregiver Courses and Training

Caregiver burden, caretaker burnout, caregiver burnout — all these terms reference the same thing: a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion related to the prolonged, high-level stress that can accompany providing care for another person. Cleveland Clinic notes that burnout typically occurs when a caregiver has done more “than they are able, physically or financially.”

Emotional overextension and guilt can also contribute. Many caregivers find themselves burned out when they put their needs below the needs of the person they’re caring for. Guilt may cause caregivers to ask themselves difficult questions like, “How could I take a break when my loved one needs so much?” or “Should I be doing more?”

However, when we take time for ourselves, we recharge and can perform better as a caregiver.

Guilt is an especially powerful factor when a child cares for a parent, as the relationship dynamics have developed over decades and are well entrenched. Because these caregivers are at particular risk of burnout, it’s crucial that they practice self-care and set clear boundaries and objectives.

Let our care assessment guide you

Burnout is a gradual process. Early caregiver burnout symptoms are easy to brush away, but they can build unnoticed under prolonged and extreme stress until the caregiver hits a breaking point. Caregivers can become so completely overwhelmed that they can’t care for their loved one or themselves. That’s when stress evolves into burnout.

“Stress, by and large, involves too much: too many pressures that demand too much of you physically and mentally,” note HelpGuide authors Melinda Smith, Jeanne Segal, and Lawrence Robinson. “However, stressed people can still imagine that if they can just get everything under control, they’ll feel better. Burnout, on the other hand, is about not enough. Being burned out means feeling empty and mentally exhausted, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring.”

The signs of caregiver burnout are diverse and subtle. Chief among all signs is a pervasive feeling of “drowning” from daily responsibilities. If you find yourself feeling consistently apathetic, anxious, or distressed, you may be suffering from caregiver burnout. Read on to learn the physical, mental, and behavioral symptoms of caregiver burnout.

Physical symptoms

• Pervasive physical soreness that’s hard to diagnose
• Constant, persistent headaches
• Reduced appetite
• Troubled, poor sleep
• Frequent bouts of illness
• Diagnosis of otherwise unexpected chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure

Mental symptoms

• Helplessness or feeling one is unable to make a change
• Melancholy or cynicism that’s hard to dispel
• Feeling uncoupled from one’s life or society in general
• Consistent, high-level anxiety or “fight or flight” response

Behavioral symptoms

• Increased use of drugs or alcohol to numb or escape
• Heightened irritability or bouts of anger
• Withdrawing from friends and family
• Forgetting obligations or letting responsibilities slip

Everyone is susceptible to burnout, and work isn’t the only culprit. Lifestyle and personality play a role, too.

If you’re the type of person who does whatever it takes to get a job done — which often means blurring the line between work and private life — you may be at risk for burnout when thrust into the role of caregiver, so make sure to establish clear expectations with your loved one.

Here are some key factors causing caregiver burnout, according to Cleveland Clinic:

• Role confusion. Many caregivers don’t seek out the role and may be unexpectedly forced into the work. These caregivers are often the spouse, child, or friend of the person in need of care. The resulting confusion between personal and professional roles can lead to friction and stress.
• Unrealistic expectations. Most caregivers take on the work with the hope that their efforts will play a direct part in their loved one’s recovery. However, some patients face progressive, terminal diseases or conditions. They may also need specialized care that is beyond the scope of family caregiver’s experience. For example, it may be helpful to pursue transitional home care when your loved one returns home from the hospital after a stroke instead of trying to learn everything you can about stroke recovery on your own in short window of time.
• Lack of control. Whether in work or private life, lack of control is a stressor that can quickly lead to apathy and disengagement. Many caregivers lack the resources they feel are necessary to put their loved one at ease or restore them to full health.
• Unreasonable demands. On top of a loved one’s demands, caregivers often expect too much of themselves, which creates potentially impossible standards. When the bond between the loved one and caregiver is close, the caregiver may feel that providing care is their sole responsibility, and this can quickly lead to feeling overwhelmed.

Read related article:Talking to Family When You Can No Longer Care for an Elderly Parent

Talk with a Senior Living Advisor

Caregiver burnout, termed caregiver role strain in the medical field, is a serious enough phenomenon that it was accepted as a medical diagnosis in 1992 by NANDA International, a professional nursing organization focused on standardizing nursing terminology. NANDA identified a need for the term because nurses are uniquely positioned to “play a significant part in reducing the role strain caregivers feel or preventing its occurrence.” NANDA writers note caregiver role strain “can be measured and identified by nurses. It can be predicted, and interventions can be instituted to diminish its effects or decrease the likelihood of its onset.”

Recognizing the symptoms of burnout is the first step to healing.

The good news is that burnout treatment and prevention require only the establishment — or resumption — of healthy life habits and clear boundaries. Remember: You are not alone, and there are numerous organizations and resources available to you.

First, reduce your stress

Consider mindfulness. When you’re burned out, meditating might seem like the last thing you want to do. However, numerous studies have shown mindfulness is an effective, noninvasive way to regulate mood quickly, and its extra health benefits are powerful.

Set clear boundaries and be honest with yourself. Sometimes, caring for someone means telling them you can’t. Or, maybe you’re able to provide care but have outside obligations that can’t be put down. Consider formalizing your caregiving arrangement. When we accept the role of caregiver, we naturally want to give it everything we have, but if we do that, we have nothing left for ourselves.

Attempt to resolve family disputes. Perhaps siblings or other close parties aren’t helping as much as they could, and too much of the care burden rests on you. These conversations can be difficult, but braving them can mean securing more help and offloading some of the stress.

Prepare by reviewing expert tips to help support your loved one living at home with dementia. There’s always a new idea that might provide a solution to a challenge you’re facing.

Find support with other caregivers. Even your best friends and closest family members may not understand what you go through as a caregiver. But your fellow caregivers do.  A caregiver support group or an online dementia-care forum are great ways to connect quickly with people in similar situations as you. AgingCare also hosts robust caregiver forums.

If self-care is not enough, consider outside help

Consider outside support through respite care, a part-time care model that may provide the break you need to continue being your best caregiver self. In some cases, Medicare may pay for respite care.

Consider some in-home help. Are you taking an all-or-nothing approach to caring for your loved one? Perhaps some of the duties — like assistance with toileting and bathing — are too much for you physically, but meal preparation, socializing with your loved one, and other lighter duties are engaging and enable bonding. Hiring in-home care may reduce your burden while enabling you to continue caring for your loved one.

A step further from respite care is memory care. If your loved one has dementia or a related condition or is beginning to show signs, your burden is particularly complex and heavy. In some cases, in-home dementia care may be a good fit. Memory care in a community offers an environment and makes use of resources designed specifically for seniors suffering from dementia and related conditions. See if it’s time to explore memory care by answering these 13 questions.

Consider talking with one of our Senior Living Advisors. They’re experts in the care options available in your area, and their services are free to you.

Sources

AARP. “Caregiving in the U.S.”

Cleveland Clinic. “Caregiver Burnout.”

Family Caregiver Alliance. “Caregiver Health: A Population at Risk.”

The Gerontologist. “Prevalence and Impact of Caregiving: A Detailed Comparison Between Dementia and Nondementia Caregivers.”

HelpGuide. “Burnout Prevention and Treatment.”

International Journal of Nursing Terminologies and Classifications. “New Diagnosis: Caregiver Role Strain.”

Journal of the American Medical Association. “Caregiving Burden, Stress, and Health Effects Among Family Caregivers of Adult Cancer Patients.”

Mayo Clinic. “Caregiver Stress: Tips for taking care of yourself.”

Minority Nurse. “Managing Caregiver Burden.”

Science Direct. “Caregiver Burden.”