It actually refers to the point where a caregiver reaches his or her threshold, leading to physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion.
This is not healthy and one should seek help if they experience their limits being stretched.
In serious cases, caregivers unleash their pent up anger on care recipients. At the start of this year, horrid news spotlighting the deaths of two children with special needs erupted after their father, the main caregiver, resorted to murdering them after suffering an extreme case of caregiver burnout and stress (Devaraj, 2022).
Despite their familial bond, experts delve into the possibilities of carers inflicting hurt on care recipients as a way of unleashing their emotional anguish (Cheow, 2019). This was also supported with early research linking burnout with violence in both formal (Truchot et al., 2013) and informal settings (Yan, 2014).
If you know a caregiver (or if you're the caregiver) reaching their limits, please reach out and seek help.
Here is the list of helpful hotlines you can reach out to. Click on the on the photo to find out more.
References
Cheow, S. A. (2019). Some caregivers hurt charges out of stress. The New Paper.
Retrieved October 25, 2022, from
https://tnp.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/some-caregivers-hurt-charges-out-
stress
Devaraj, S. (2022, January 24). Twins found dead: SG Enable urges stressed caregivers
of children with special needs to seek help. The Straits Times. Retrieved October
25, 2022, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/caring-for-kids-with-
special-needs-can-be-stressful-says-sg-enable-after-deaths-of-two-11-year-old-boys
Tan, C. (2020, October 25). Caregiver burnout: What it is and how to manage stress.
The Straits Times. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/caregiver-burnout-what-it-is-and-how-to-
manage-stress
Truchot D., Borteyrou X., Andela M., Huguenotte (2013). Elder abuse in retirement
homes: The influence of workload, burnout, and emotional labor. Presented at the
27th conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Bordeaux.
Yan E. (2014). Abuse of older persons with dementia by family caregivers: results of a
6-month prospective study in Hong Kong. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 29, 1018–
1027.
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