Situation · Family and friends
“I resent looking after my ageing parents”
What could be going on
Resentment: Fits if you swallow unfairness, often siblings not helping, without saying it.
Stress response and allostatic load: An ordinary cause: chronic caring wears anyone down; check your sleep and support.
Ambivalence: Love and anger towards a parent can coexist; check whether the anger shames you.
Grief (complicated, disenfranchised, anticipatory): Could be anticipatory grief for the parent you are slowly losing.
Self-sacrifice schema: Check whether you take on everything and can't ask others to share it.
Questions to carry
- In the last task for my parents that left me resentful, what was being asked, and by whom?
- Underneath the resentment, what am I missing out on, or grieving?
Also said as
- caring for my mum is wearing me down and I feel awful for being angry
- I'm the only sibling helping with dad and I'm bitter
- carer resentment for elderly parents
- why do I feel so angry looking after my parents
- resentment caring for elderly parents
- caregiver burnout with my mum