A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that participants over age 65 caring for disabled spouses and suffering from mental or emotional strain were 63 percent more likely to die than those who were not caring for a loved one. Support groups and workshops on aging and care for the elderly are becoming more prevalent, but most people don't want to face the issue until the last minute, said Janet Strong, director of the Center for Older Adults at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. They don't want to think about mom and dad losing it because that means they're next. The strains of providing personal care can be considerable.
Emotions often swing from fear to sadness to anger to hope and grief in a single day.
Burnout is common, and the feeling of not being able to go on can be overwhelming, experts say. Sharing experiences with people in the same situation can often help relieve some of those feelings. People's concerns are as varied as their family and medical situations. Strong touches on a wide range of concerns in her workshops, such as caring for elderly parents who live a considerable distance away from their children and how to cooperate with siblings when it comes to making tough decisions for aging parents. The center also sponsors a group called Caring Connectors, which develops friendships with older adults who don't have relatives nearby.