"Of course, there were moments of grace... the moments when her smile would light up her face and somehow the years would drop away and I could see the mother I remembered; or the moments when her eyes flashed with joy when she recognized her grandson. There were the nurses who sang to her, the aides who held her hand. Yes, in the midst of it all, there was love and beauty and much to be grateful for."
"Caregiving is love, and I'm profoundly grateful for being able to give my mother this love-but it's also exhaustion and grief. This is borne out by research, which shows that major depressive symptoms are more prevalent in caregivers than in the general population. We were incredibly fortunate to have professional support during this difficult time. But even with that support, much of the burden of my mother's care fell on our family."
A family caregiver observed a parent's progressive dementia, experiencing intermittent moments of recognition and solace from nurses and aides alongside persistent grief. Dementia produced a gradual loss of the known person, intensifying pain by contrasting past and present. Caregiving combined love with exhaustion, sleepless nights, paperwork, expenses, and emotional heartbreak. Research indicates higher rates of major depressive symptoms among caregivers than the general population. Professional support mitigated some strain, but much burden remained with the family. Technology and AI were considered as possible tools to detect decline earlier and reduce caregiving load, offering ways to carry some burdens though not erase grief.
Read at Psychology Today
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