Who Cares for Caregivers? Personal Confessions of Caregiver Burnout and How Jabali Health Supports You

clytenjeri
Jan 22
3 min read

Caregiver burnout is real. Read personal confessions of exhaustion, fear, and guilt, and learn how Jabali Health supports caregivers with compassionate mental health care.

Who Cares for Caregivers?

Caregiving is often described as an act of love, duty, or sacrifice. What is rarely discussed is the quiet devastation that can come with it, the exhaustion that never lifts, the fear that settles deep in your chest, and the overwhelming sense that your own life has slowly disappeared.

Caregiver burnout is not a personal failure. It is a human response to prolonged emotional, physical, and psychological strain. And yet, many caregivers suffer in silence, believing they must endure it alone.

These are some of their confessions.

Personal Confessions of Caregiver Burnout

I am exhausted. I am scared. I am overwhelmed.

I am caring for my 82-year-old father, and every waking moment of my life feels consumed. I’ve been a caregiver on and off for twenty-six years, but this time has broken me in ways I didn’t expect. I am now responsible for someone who is manipulative, controlling, and emotionally draining. The stress has become so intolerable that even my medication for anxiety and insomnia no longer works.

At this point, I don’t feel guilty anymore. I am fighting for my own sanity and well-being. I made a promise to myself: if I survive this, I will never be a caregiver again.

I feel lost. I don’t know who I am anymore.

For over five years, I was my mother’s caregiver, alone, 24/7, without a single day off. No breaks. No help. Just endless responsibility. I am physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, and I’ve grown to resent the word caregiver because it feels like it erased my identity.

Caregiver guilt is the worst part.

You feel like you’re doing too much, yet somehow never enough. No matter what you do, it feels wrong. You are trapped between obligation and resentment, love and anger, devotion and grief.

I cared for my father as Parkinson’s and dementia took over his life.

Those years drained me emotionally and physically. Watching someone you love disappear while still needing everything from you is a kind of grief that has no clear ending. Caregiving didn’t just stretch me thin; it hollowed me out.

These stories are not rare. They are the lived reality of caregiver burnout.

Why Caregivers Are So Often Overlooked

Caregivers are praised for being “strong” and “selfless,” but rarely asked how they are coping. Support systems tend to focus on the patient, while the caregiver becomes invisible, expected to endure indefinitely.

But caregivers are not unlimited resources. They are human beings with limits, needs, and breaking points.

How Jabali Health Supports Caregivers

At Jabali Health, caregiver burnout is recognized, validated, and taken seriously. Support is not about telling caregivers to “be stronger” or “push through.” It’s about helping them survive and heal.

Jabali Health supports caregivers by:

Therapy sessions to address anxiety, depression, grief, and chronic stress
Connecting caregivers with support groups for peer encouragement and shared experiences
Providing practical resources to help manage daily caregiving challenges
Offering a safe, non-judgmental space where caregivers can speak honestly about guilt, resentment, anger, and loss of identity
Supporting emotional resilience without minimizing the caregiver’s experience