Supporting our elderly parents
As our parents enter their golden years, we might feel concerned about the changes in
Read on to find out how we can better support our parents’ mental health and well-being.
Tips on supporting our elderly parents
When communicating with our parents, it is useful to take note of the following:
Different mental health challenges
Our parents might experience some changes and losses at this stage of their lives which can affect their mental health and well-being. As their child, we can learn about the mental health challenges they might face so that we can better support them.
Our parents might experience difficulty falling or staying asleep. If we notice them going through this, we can read more about sleep health and useful tips to share with them.
Emerging health concerns and life transitions such as retirement or taking care of a new grandchild might bring about stress. It is important that we help our parents manage it before it overwhelms them.
Click
here to learn more tips that we can share with our parents about how seniors can manage stress.
When things get overwhelming or do not happen as expected, our parents might experience intense emotions. We can help them learn to be more aware of their emotions and manage them better.
Click
here to learn more tips that you can share with your parents about managing emotions.
1 in every 10 people aged 60 years old and above has dementia. Caring for someone with dementia can be intense and challenging. To learn more about how we can support our elderly parents living with dementia, click here.
It is normal to feel sad occasionally but if we notice our parents feeling down over an extended period, they could be suffering from depression. Click
here to find out more about depression and how we can better support our parents.
Here are some tips on caring for parents with depression:
OCD is one of the top three most common mental health conditions and it can cause distress and anxiety in our parents. To better support them, we can
learn more about what they are going through and how to seek help.
Here are some tips on caring for parents with OCD:
It is normal to feel anxious at times but if our parents’ daily lives are affected because they feel excessively anxious, it could be a sign of anxiety disorder. We can
learn more about what they are going through and when to seek help to better support them in managing it.
Here are some tips on caring for parents with anxiety disorder:
At this stage of their lives, our parents may experience different forms of change and loss. They may experience worsening health and mobility, loss of loved ones and social connections, or even a loss of income or independence.
Some of these events may cause them to feel lonely, overwhelmed, or stressed. When these feelings become too much to handle, some might hurt or contemplate hurting themselves to seek relief.
Click
here to learn more about self-harm and suicide as well as how to help our parents cope with it.
Self-care matters
Caring for our elderly parents can be tiring and frustrating at times. This can take a toll on our physical and mental well-being. Ultimately, the lack of self-care will make it more difficult for us to care for them. This is also why we should not feel guilty about attending to our needs.
Practising and prioritising self-care allows us to recharge and be ready to provide our parents with the support they need. Refer to these tips on
managing stress and
emotions to keep ourselves healthy.