Support for Caregivers: How Art Therapy Can Help
“Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know possible.”
Caregivers need more support.
According to the CDC, caregiving for a family member or friend (also called “unpaid” and “informal” caregiving) has been associated with:
• Increased symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Increased usage of medications
• Decreased physical health according to self-report measures
• Lowered immune function
• Higher risk of early death
Recent data shows us that an estimated 43% of all adults in the US right now are unpaid caregivers.
Caregiving can imbue a sense of meaning and connection in our lives and increase our self-awareness, empathy, and sense of purpose. Caregiving can also lead to resentment, fatigue, guilt, and burnout.
In this post, I’ll cover the specific ways that art therapy can support the mental and emotional health of caregivers as well as some resources.
“One person caring about another represents life’s greatest value.”
Who Are Caregivers? The Invisible Pillars of Long-Term Care
Typically, the term “caregiver” is associated with a person who works in healthcare. However, a caregiver can be a neighbor, a friend, a partner, or a family member of anyone who needs care for their physical, emotional, or mental health.
Caregivers are the invisible pillars of our country’s long-term care system, providing essential, unpaid work. Unpaid caregivers help in a variety of ways which, while vital, can have serious impacts on their health, relationships, career, and finances.
A decade ago, the CDC estimated that the one-year value of unpaid caregiver activity was estimated at $450 billion dollars. Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimate was $3.2 trillion. As of 2021, it was $648 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a doubling in the number of unpaid caregivers and, with it, a significant rise in adverse mental health symptoms. One study showed that 52% of unpaid caregivers caring for both 1+ children and 1+ adults had experienced suicidal ideation.
That accounts for one-tenth of all caregivers in this country. This raises an important question: who is caring for our caregivers?
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
How Art Therapy Supports Unpaid Caregivers
When you’re a caregiver, you have to expend energy on many things: distributing medications, cooking a meal, coordinating schedules, picking up groceries, remembering to make a phone call, or transporting someone to a medical appointment. It is often as intense and demanding as it is rewarding and meaningful.
We know that we can’t refill someone else’s cup when ours is empty. Caregivers are often extremely focused on others, which may result in a minimization of their needs, or not being aware of having any needs at all. Caregivers may have mixed feelings about going to therapy for a variety of reasons.
Using creative self-expression offers a unique way for caregivers to share their stories - which can often feel difficult to put into words - and begin to externalize what they are holding within.
Caregivers in art therapy often address:
· Caregiver burnout prevention
· Exploration of change and uncertainty
· Caregiver strain
· Stress and anxiety management
· Caregiver stress
· Grief and loss
· Caregiver resentment
· Guilt and/or shame
· Caregiver fatigue
· Emotional regulation
Art therapy is unique because self-expression connects us to our unconscious and the embodied, felt sense of our emotions. This helps with stress reduction, decreasing anxiety, and increasing insight and awareness.
“To experience peace doesn’t mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.”
Resources for Caregivers
The CII scale (scroll down to access the link) is a self-report scale that helps caregivers clarify how intense their caregiving role is, in order to identify and match them with support and resources available to them both locally and nationally. This scale can also be helpful in assessing the need for therapeutic support.
This scale is provided through Archangels which is a platform dedicated to supporting caregivers and connecting them with (often underutilized) resources. For NJ residents, the New Jersey Caregiver Task Force can be found here.
This process of scaling intensity may elicit discomfort. On the one hand, it may feel empowering and relieving to label your experience and go forward with taking steps to access more support. Bringing awareness to the intensity of your role may also produce a variety of challenging emotions. We may not be aware of all we do to care for others or how impactful the work has been on our lives until we slow down to take a look.
Remember to be gentle with yourself as you navigate this process.
“You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.”
Summary
Caregiving has serious impacts on mental health. Caregivers are admirably supportive and needed. They are tasked to handle stress and challenges that non-caregivers may never have to think about. Having an idea of the intensity level (such as taking the CII) can empower caregivers to know what resources are available to them so they can connect with others and better care for their mental, emotional, and financial health.
Art therapy offers a unique approach for caregivers to deeply process their emotions and experiences to achieve goals such as decreasing anxiety, coping more effectively with stress, and increasing self-compassion for all they do. Art therapy seeks to support caregivers in taking the space they need to honor all the emotions and experiences they hold.
If you’re a caregiver and you’re interested in art therapy or joining an art therapy support group for caregivers, reach out today. My private practice is located in Montclair, NJ. I also provide virtual therapy to clients in New York and other parts of New Jersey.
Outside of this area? Find a credentialed art therapist near you here.
https://www.atcb.org/find-a-credentialed-art-therapist/
Caregiving creates financial pressure. I highly recommend Open Path for low-fee and sliding scale therapy.
