Individual Counseling Supports Adults Taking Care of Parents
The relationships between a mother and daughter are complex and ever changing. As the years pass, daughters grow up and mothers grow older until eventually the cycle of care has reversed itself and the child supports and looks after the parent. For many adults, the dual conflicts of caring for children of their own while simultaneously taking care of an elderly parent compounds the stress and responsibilities of every day life.
For the many adult women who seek out individual counseling to deal with the emotional stress related to taking care of a parent, the resulting issues are often more to do with changing emotional habits and and responsibility structure than adding another person to take care of.
Ginnifer described her relationship with her mother:
My mother and I had always been close. Even though I was older, married and out on my own, she always took care of me, emotionally, when I needed it most. If I was sick, home made chicken noodle soup and a bottle of ginger ale would magically appear on the doorstep and, even if I was deathly ill, I automatically felt better. No matter how bad anything was, I could rest knowing that my mother would take care of me.
This type of emotional dependency is common in grown daughters and their mothers. Habits formed for decades are hard to break and, with no reason to break, they continue.
The years passed and my mom was a little slower, yes, but still herself, playing catch in the yard with her grandchildren. She had stopped driving due to her failing eyesight, so I took her anywhere she needed to go. That’s when I started to notice that what I thought was simple forgetfulness was actually something much deeper. The Dr. confirmed that my mother had early Alzheimer’s, and I was forced to watch as my mother, my emotional safety-zone, my friend, slowly slipped away. It was devastating.
Changing lifelong relationships such as this are often helped by the assistance of individual counseling. Individual counseling can be a supportive and understanding practice that provides the emotional help you need.
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