‘Caregiving for family members who have a terminal illness is an arduous and thankless task. A new study of family caregivers of people with ALS (most often spouses) finds that the caregivers are likely to become depressed and feel burdened. However, quality of life appears to be preserved for the person being cared for, i.e. the patient.

The study is reported in the March 20, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Since there’s evidence a caregiver’s mental status greatly influences ALS patients, these findings show a family caregiver’s physical and psychological condition should not be overlooked when planning ALS care,” said study author Adriano Chio, MD.

Researchers interviewed 31 ALS patient-caregiver couples at the beginning and end of a nine-month study. Couples were tested for depression and quality of life. Researchers also examined a caregiver’s feeling of burden, along with a patient’s self-perceived burden.’

Read more at Depression Among Family Caregivers

Recent Entries

• One in five won’t work with depressed
• Hispanics have different depression rates
• Tai chi to help farmers fight depression
• Positive experiences ease MS depression
• Depression and Alzheimer’s Linked
• Insomnia may boost future depression risk
• Depression After Stroke Can Be Debilitating
• Antismoking Pill May Ease Depression … Or Cause Suicidal Thoughts
• Seasonal allergies could spark depression, fatigue
• Depression After a Heart Attack Dangerous for Years

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 10:50 am and is filed under Depression News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.