Programs Help Caregivers Reduce Stress, Learn to Cope

Helping Grandmother walk, by Rosie O'Beirne on flickr.com (Creative Commons license)

What happens when the caregivers need care?

An article in this week's New York Times addresses that question -- with hopeful conclusions and advice.

All parents endure stress, but studies show that parents of children with developmental disabilities, like autism, experience depression and anxiety far more often. Struggling to obtain crucial support services, the financial strain of paying for various therapies, the relentless worry over everything from wandering to the future -- all of it can be overwhelming.

"The toll stress-wise is just enormous, and we know that we don't do a really grat job of helping parents cope with it," said Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, the director of Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine.

"Having a child that has a disability, it's all-encompassing," he added. "You could see how people would lose themselves."

Fortunately, Doctors have been studying the efficacy of mindfulness techniques in reducing the stress and associated depression and anxiety that may come along with it -- and the results of their study are promising. It turns out, training in simple breathing techniques, cultivating awareness in the moment and learning to curb negative thinking, among other things, goes a long way in improving a caregiver's sense of calm and ability to cope.

Read more about the study here: When the Caregivers Need Healing, by Catherine Saint Louis, in The New York Times (July 29, 2014).