You sacrifice sleep and a social life to care for your loved one.
You frantically try to balance work and the partner or parent you have waiting at home. You feel stressed, guilty, angry, unbearably exhausted. And it’s been going on for years.
Because of the tremendous load caregivers sometimes take on, they are more likely than their non-carer counterparts to develop mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, 40 to 70 percent of family caregivers have significant symptoms of depression, with about a quarter to half of them meeting the diagnostic criteria for major depression.
If you feel debilitated, anxious or depressed, remember: you are absolutely not alone.
In the event you suspect you might be experiencing depression, anxiety or another mental health issue, you should speak to a health care professional. That being said, some days you need support, but can’t make it to your doctor right away.
These websites and apps aim to make those days more manageable.
This Australian website is designed to help you take charge of your depression and anxiety. Using five different modules along with interactive games, guided relation and a feedback assessment, MoodGYM teaches the basics of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. (CBT is a common treatment option for depression and anxiety which focuses largely on the relationship between thoughts and emotions.)
Basically, the idea behind the app is to help you recognize negative, anxious or overwhelming thoughts, and teach you to manage them instead of letting them snowball.
There’s no mobile version of the site available as of yet. But anyone with a computer can access it online. It’s a popular tool: So far, over 800,000 people from 222 countries are registered to use MoodGYM.
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