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Caregiver Anxiety: How to Recognize it and What to Do

October 8, 2018 By Cassie Greenfield, MSc Leave a Comment

Caregiver anxiety

Caregiving is such an involved and busy role that we often pay little attention to our own physical and mental health. After all, the person we’re supporting often needs much more than we do. 

Caregiver anxiety is one of these areas. Anxiety manifests in many ways.

  • It can include excessive stress and worry, often turning over the same concerns in your mind time and time again. 
  • It may mean that you assume the worst from any piece of news and try to prepare for problems that aren’t even likely.
  • Your sleep will often suffer as a result. This may happen because you’re going over the issues of the previous day in your head or because you’re thinking ahead to the future. 
  • You may get physical symptoms, like trembling, increased sweating, fatigue, and a racing heartbeat.

Some stress and anxiousness is unavoidable as a caregiver. You’re often in unfamiliar territory. There are also many things that can truly go wrong. 

But, excessive anxiety is counterproductive. 

Anxiety often means that thinking straight is more difficult. You may end up making decisions based on emotions rather than reality.

What You Can Do

Caregivers often can’t get themselves out of their stressful environment. Even reducing stress can seem like an impossible goal. Thankfully, there are some approaches that can help. 

Look at the Physical Responses

Start to identify when you’re becoming anxious. Look for the physical signs, like a rapid heartbeat and butterflies in your stomach. 

These aren’t things to be afraid of. They’re simply your body responding to the situation at hand. Understanding this and accepting the symptoms can be a major help. Think about them as something that is necessary and will pass. 

This is particularly true for symptoms like an elevated heart rate. 

It’s easy to get alarmed at that type of response. Yet, doing so creates a feedback loop. Basically, if you’re scared and tense about the reaction, you’ll end up increasing the likelihood of it happening and/or the duration. 

Use Relaxation Techniques

When you feel a physical reaction, try to take a mental step back and use calming techniques. These can be as simple as you like, such as tensing and relaxing your major muscle groups one by one. 

Closing your eyes and counting to five is another approach. Simple techniques like this can significantly reduce tension, especially when you practice them regularly.

Don’t be worried if the techniques don’t resolve some of your symptoms. For example, people who get panic attacks often find that they still need to ride the attack out, but relaxation techniques do help reduce the severity and frequency.

Set Aside Time for your Problems

Avoiding worry and stress is always a good idea. But, problems are a part of life. You do need to engage with them, to a degree. There will also be cases where you need to look for solutions. 

You can do this by setting aside time to focus on issues at hand. If something comes to your mind at another time, write it down and come back to it during the time you set aside.

It takes some practice to get used to this concept, but the process becomes easier over time. You’ll often find that your problems seem much less relevant when it is time to think about them. 

There is also a practical benefit to this approach. When you tackle problems in this way, you’re often addressing them when you are calmer and more rational. This makes it easier to find solutions. 

Accept Uncertainty

Life is never going to be entirely predictable. This is even more true for caregiving. You simply don’t know what the future will bring. All it takes is one little thing to change everything you expected. 

Accepting this idea can help. Be aware that whatever happens, you’ll figure it out.  It’s easy to forget just how adaptable we are. For all the stress and struggle of caregiving – we do tend to find our way. 

There often won’t be an ideal solution anyway. That’s fine too. The goal is simply to do the best that you can do. 

When to Seek Help

You can often resolve anxiety by taking steps of your own – but this won’t always be the case. Some people end up developing an anxiety disorder that will require treatment to address.

One of the biggest indications is whether things are getting better. 

If you’ve tried various techniques to reduce anxiety and it’s not working, you may need some external input. 

In some cases, long-term therapy and perhaps even medication may be needed. Other times, the solution may be simpler. For example, even a session or two with a counselor can be enough to show you what is underlying your anxiety. 

Even if you don’t think there’s a solution at hand, talk to your doctor. 

They should be able to tell you about the resources and options that are available. 

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About Cassie Greenfield, MSc

Cassie Greenfield is passionate about people, resilience, and thriving, especially following her personal caregiving experience. She frequently writes about mental health and the complexities of interpersonal relationships, like responding to difficult aging parents and dealing with siblings who refuse to help.

You can find out more about her background here.

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