As a caregiver, whether it's to your aging parents, a special needs child, or clients, it is easy to rationalize neglecting your personal well-being in favor of providing care. After all, your care recipient depends on you for their essential needs and ensuring they are as healthy and comfortable as possible is more important than hanging out with friends or taking rest days.
However, this line of thinking, even though well-intentioned, could actually do more harm than good. This is because caregiving, although rewarding, is also highly stressful. Failing to take proper care of yourself can cause that stress to accumulate, and if it is not quickly addressed, devolve into caregiver burnout.
Caregiver burnout does not hurt you alone. It also affects your care recipient by negatively impacting your ability to provide care. This article will teach you to spot caregiver burnout early by clueing you in on what it is, the causes, stages, and symptoms that accompany it. We’ll also discuss prevention and treatment so that you can take action to ensure that your loved ones always receive the care they deserve.
What Is Caregiver Burnout?
Caregiver burnout, also known as caregiver stress syndrome, is the eventual result of long-term stress induced by the demands of your caregiver role. It is the physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that occurs when you are overwhelmed by caregiver stressors.
Unlike general work burnout which manifests in occupational contexts, caregiver burnout can develop in anyone who provides care, irrespective of whether they are professional caregivers or informal caregivers providing for loved ones. Despite this difference, caregiver burnout is a sub-type of burnout syndrome. Because it is a reaction to stress, it can be associated with the same emotional, physical, and medical complications — which can be severe, even life threatening, if not dealt with.
The caregiver stress syndrome experience is different with each person, but some common emotions burned-out caregivers feel include anxiety, resentment, anger, guilt, or in some cases, nothing at all. If you are a caregiver and you experience these emotions, take a burnout test to determine if they are just the result of everyday frustrations, or hint at something more.
Caregiver Burnout vs Compassion Fatigue
Caregiver burnout and compassion fatigue are both stress reactions to caregiving experiences. Additionally, their symptoms are incredibly similar, so people often mistake the two.
However, the difference between burnout and compassion fatigue is that with burnout, even though the amount of love you feel for the care recipient does not change, your physical, mental and emotional exhaustion renders you incapable of providing care.
Compassion fatigue, on the other hand, affects your ability to empathize with your care recipient and may lead to indifference, pessimism, and disinterest in their issues. When caregiver burnout goes unchecked, without support, a caretaker can develop compassion fatigue along with burnout—no matter how much they love the person/people they care for.
Who Is At Risk of Caregiver Burnout?
Anyone in a caregiver role could potentially develop caregiver burnout syndrome. However, the risk is higher in women, considering that they make up 58 percent of all informal caregivers in the nation.
Nurses, personal care assistants, therapists, and other healthcare workers are equally susceptible to burnout, although they may have better coping mechanisms as a result of their training. Teachers and first responders are also at high risk.
Identifying the Three Stages of Caregiver Burnout
James R. Sherman, author of the caregiver survival series, in his book, Preventing Caregiver Burnout, identified three stages of caregiver burnout. They are:
Caregiver Burnout Stage 1: Frustration
The first stage of caregiver burnout is characterized by disappointment and frustration that despite your best efforts, your care recipient’s condition continues to decline.
Caregiver Burnout Stage 2: Isolation
At this stage, you may feel like no one understands or appreciates the sacrifices you make to provide care to your loved one. You feel lonely because you don't have much time to socialize, but even when you do, you feel disconnected from your social circle.
Caregiver Burnout Stage 3: Despair
This is the final stage of caregiver burnout, and here, you struggle to see any value in your caregiving efforts. You feel helpless and so struggle to perform your caregiver duties. You may even start to neglect your personal care, which could lead to a drop in hygiene and health.
What Causes Caregiver Burnout?
Failure to strike that balance between caring for yourself and providing care for others is the primary cause of caregiver burnout. However, other common causes include:
Career-Personality Mismatch
People with certain personality types or traits, such as neuroticism, are less resilient to caregiver stress. If you are one of such people, and you work in a high-stress caregiver role, like nursing, it may cause you to feel overwhelmed and consequently develop nursing burnout.
Heavy Workload
Navigating life is hard. Navigating life while also taking charge of the day-to-day needs of another person is a mountainous challenge anyone would struggle with. Shouldering the burden of providing care for your loved one while also juggling other facets of your life can put enormous stress on you that could eventually lead to burnout.
Unrealistic Expectations
While there are some exceptions, the bitter truth is that most care recipients don't get better. If you have difficulty accepting that or hold on to a false hope that your efforts will somehow cause them to recover, watching that slow decline could trigger caregiver burnout.
Role Confusion
When you are suddenly thrust into a caregiver ro you did not anticipate or prepare for, it can be difficult to define the boundary and separate it from your other roles. Where do you draw the line between caregiver and spouse, child, or parent?
Pent-Up Emotions
The stress of caregiving often leads to negative emotions such as frustration, anger, and disappointment. However, you may find it hard to express those emotions as it may seem insensitive to complain about your problems when your care recipient is going through much worse. Unfortunately, these bottled emotions can accumulate and lead to caregiver burnout.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Caregiver Burnout?
Caregiver burnout symptoms vary from person to person, but some common symptoms of caregiver stress syndrome include:
- Fluctuations in appetite and weight
- Irregular sleep patterns
- Physical and emotional fatigue
- Loss of interest in hobbies
- Social withdrawal
- Anxiety
- Irritability and a short temper
Effects of Caregiver Burnout on the Caregiver
Caregiver burnout, if not properly managed, can trigger serious physical, emotional, and mental problems for the caregiver, including:
- Weakened immune system,
- Depression and anxiety,
- Obesity,
- Increased risk of disease and/or medical conditions,
- Escapist behavior like over-eating, alcoholism, and drug abuse
How Does Caregiver Burnout Affect the Patient?
Remember that caregivers are not the only ones affected by caregiver burnout. Their condition renders them incapable of providing the care their patients or loved ones need. This can lead to them experiencing:
- Lower quality of life,
- Increased symptom intensity and/or
- Higher rates of depression.
Needless to say, when a caregiver is overwhelmed and burned out, it opens the door for mistakes to be made as well as potential neglect. In the worst-case scenario, when the emotional state of the caregiver becomes severe, anger and frustration can result in abuse.
Impact of COVID-19 on Caregiver Burnout
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent epidemiological control methods introduced caused massive disruptions to society, and caregivers were not spared. A 2020 study by the University of Pittsburgh analyzed these disruptions and drew the following conclusions on their effects:
- Caregivers were hit harder by the pandemic and were more likely to experience social isolation, anxiety, and depression.
- Caregiver responsibilities and burdens increased, and meeting those responsibilities became more difficult.
- Low-income, minority, and younger caregivers are under the most strain.
How To Prevent And Get Treatment For Caregiver Burnout
Now that you know what caregiver burnout is, the signs, and the symptoms, you can take action to prevent and treat it. There are several strategies you can try, but we’ve listed the best ones below.
Take a Career Test
Before you commit to a career in caregiving, take a career test to determine whether it is compatible with your personality. That way, you can identify if you have any personality traits that put you at increased risk of caregiver burnout.
Ask for Help
You don't have to do everything alone. Seek help from family members, and friends, cultivate a support network and rely on it.
Accept and Talk About Your Feelings
Negative feelings about your caretaker role are a normal experience. Confide in your family, friends, or spiritual leader about what you're feeling, or see a therapist to better understand your emotions.
Be Realistic
If your care recipient has a progressive or terminal disease, chances are, they will continue to deteriorate despite your care. Learn to accept that and instead take comfort in the fact that you are making their lives a little bit more comfortable.
Take Advantage of Respite Care Services
Respite care services let you catch a break from being a caregiver. There are different kinds, some lasting a single afternoon, others several weeks. Use these services to get some time away to take a much-needed rest and recharge your batteries.
Where Do I Go For Help With Caregiver Burnout?
Asking for help is one of the best ways to prevent caregiver burnout. This means getting help not only with your workload but also your emotional well-being. Caregiver support groups provide the opportunity to meet with others in similar situations. Sharing your struggles and joys, knowing you are not alone, can do wonders for your mental state.
If your stressors are severe, and you feel yourself heading into deeper burnout syndrome, you may want to speak to a professional counselor. Remember, this is not a sign of weakness — if you can’t take care of yourself properly, you can’t take care of others. If you are in a professional setting where taking care of others is your career, you need to talk to your supervisors—especially if the situation is being amplified by systemic issues.
For those of you caring for loved ones, turning to family and friends for assistance is a great first step. However, if that is unavailable or insufficient, here are a few caregiver burnout help resources you can leverage:
- Adult day care: A great resource for working caregivers taking care of older patients. It is a place where senior citizens can socialize and get medical attention if needed.
- Home health services: Such as live-in nurses and aides
- Non-medical home care services: Such as companionship and housekeeping services.
- Respite care: You can find respite services in your community by using the ARCH respite Locator.
How Can I Handle Caregiver Stressors to Avoid Caregiver Burnout?
Caregiver burnout is dangerous mainly because many people fail to recognize the warning signs. Now that you know what it is, its causes, symptoms, and treatments, you are fully equipped to identify and treat it in its earliest stages.
If you take only one thing from this article, let it be the fact that you matter too. If you are not healthy and strong, you will not be able to care for others.
