Your elder ones guilt tripping you before every hospital visit? Geriatric Home care services to the rescue!

Guilt trips are not uncommon in families that have elders. Whenever a parent uses phrases like ‘You have no clue how much we struggled to raise you’ or ‘I feel I should not be a burden to you anymore’ you might be probably being pushed for a guilt trip.

 What is a guilt trip?

Basically, a guilt trip by a parent is something- be it a verbal statement or their action, makes you feel like you are not doing enough for them even though you are in your capacity. Sometimes more than your capacity and strength. People respond in various ways whenever their parents are using these guilt trip phases. And, parents use them whenever they are expected to do something that they do not really like enjoying.

 Why do guilt trips happen?

 Guilt trip comes from a painful experience of the parent (can be physical or mental) and passed on to the caregiver. With added years to the body, aging parents might feel they are already burdened with the physical health issues such as chronic pain diseases of elders, medications, chronic health issues, and mental issues such as loneliness, reduced social interactions, and so on. 

 More than often, families with seniors face guilt trips whenever there is a hospital visit. And, you cannot blame the elderly for these trips. Frequent hospital trips mean dealing with travel, waiting for the doctor, getting the prescribed tests done, and going back to home - the list of things that cause tiredness in the name of frequent hospital visits find no end.  

 What could be done to reduce guilt trips?

 Finding what the things are that cause guilt trips are is the first step in the way to address them. Here are a few things that can cause guilt trips in common.

 

●      Inability to do their daily activities: The body needs to cooperate in many ways to get the daily living activities done. As a kid or as an adult, simple activities such as waking up, brushing, morning activities, bathing, grooming, dressing up, eating, and performing the house chores and so on can be easy. But it can be overwhelming for the seniors

●      Doing the daily activities on their own and falling short of keeping the activities right.

●      Inability to fulfill their mental needs: With the reduced physical activities seniors tend to retrieve themselves from the social interactions. Loneliness and unable to find people to have a conversation can lead to various feelings including feeling empty. The mental need can lead to frustrations and seniors might eventually vent it out on their family members.

●      Inability to be their own self: Having lived a life full of activities and responsibilities, retired seniors might feel their life is going nowhere as they are unable to be their own self like they used to. This happens, particularly, a lot with people who used to be outspoken and outgoing.

●      Increased dependency: Dependency is, probably, the biggest reason why seniors go on guilt trips. As the days go by, seniors might need additional help in performing their daily activities. And, they might need time to get used to these activities and families experience a lot of friction in this process. Family members need to deal with disagreements from their elders and elders with the concerns related to their privacy and dignity.

 

What can you do to prevent the guilt trips?

 Call out the behavior: Show your parents that you are not okay with their behavior and that it is affecting you in many ways. You don’t have to be rude to them but tell them that you are not okay with their behavior or the language that they use.

 Make them understand: Sit down and have a serious conversation and tell them how exhausting it is to manage work, family and parents. Tell them the problems you face on a daily basis. Talk to them about how you missed being able to share your personal things to them.

 

Be Patient: You are more likely to lose temper when you handle situations like these especially when your elderly parents are stubborn and a little harsh enough to hurt you even though you are old enough to manage a family. Being Patient is Key to handling situations like these. Try to calm yourself and try to understand why your parents would behave that way.

 

Listen to them: Your parents will have their reasons as to why they are behaving that way! They might feel lonely even when you care for them! They might feel like they are a burden to you and no one wants to feel that way so they replace anger instead of other feelings so they feel like they are in control of the situation! They are not harmless just helpless.

 

 What are the available solutions to stop guilt trips?

 Guilt trips are bad. They can be heavy and emotionally draining. When you start looking around for the possible solutions to save yourself and your elderly parents from the guilt trips, home healthcare services for seniors is the perfect solution that you come across.

 

How does home healthcare for seniors can help?

 The certified healthcare experts for seniors help the elderly in a plethora of ways. Starting from providing the doctor visits at home for seniors, the home care experts cover services such as nursing care at home, diagnostic services at home, physiotherapy at home, and personal attendant services at home.

 The experienced doctors, nurses, and personal attendants understand the elderly world better than anyone and just know how to go about each thing involved in an aging person’s life.

 Healthabove60 is an experienced home healthcare service provider operating out of Chennai. Avail all sorts of allied and non-allied medical services for seniors at home including the non-emergency ambulance services.