Caregiver Guide: Relieving Stress and Anxiety

If you have ever been a caregiver for anyone close, you know that it is easy to become stressed out and suffer from anxiety. It is easy to become stressed out in this situation because you are taking care of someone else. Many people have their own ways of doing things and it might not be the same as the way you do it. It doesn't mean that either way is wrong, but it can cause complications in the relationship between the caregiver and care receiver. Therefore it is important to remember that stress and anxiety are easy to relieve.

When stressful situations arrive in the care giving environment it is important to recognize why you are getting stressed out. You will need to evaluate the situation. First of all is there any way that you can alleviate the situation? If you can think of something that would make the situation easier to handle, you can start trying this. There are many things you should understand. High expectations that you have can cause you to have a feeling of failure. You need to understand that you are doing the best you can. You cannot blame yourself for not being able to do everything. If you do this you will begin to be stressed out. When you come to terms with this you will relieve some of the stress associated with care giving.

You should always reward yourself for accomplishing tasks. This will make you feel better because you know that you are completing goals. Remember to always give yourself a break too. At times when you are a caregiver for someone you will become burned out and you need a break. There should be someone that can give you a break from the situation even if it's only for a little while. Don't let others tell you that you are doing a bad job when you know you are doing the best you can. For example, I used to set up my mother-in-laws medicine because it was easier for her to remember to take them when they were put in a pill box. I had them set up and when my sister-in-law, her daughter, told someone that I shouldn't be setting them up; my other sister-in-law told her that she needed to leave me alone. She told her that I was doing it right and no one needed to say that I wasn't. This was very stressful because whenever I had started setting them up my sister-in-law had been setting them up. This sister-in-law had overdosed my mother-in-law because she was reading the pill bottles wrong! She has dyslexia and shouldn't have been setting up anyone's medications.

This is just one of the situations that I have run into while being a caregiver. I also do a lot for my father. He is in the nursing home and there are many things that make this stressful. I have had to complain to the State Health Department when no one else would. When you are a caregiver, you must understand that you are there to help. You can only do so much. Don't blame yourself when something small gets missed. Remember to always pick your battles. If it is for the patients health, that's when it matters most. Reduce stressful situations by remembering these things.