Caring for family members with dementia — which is on the rise in the U.S. — causes significant emotional and physical stress that increases caregivers’ risk of depression, anxiety and death.
A new method of coping with that stress by teaching people how to focus on positive emotions reduced their anxiety and depression after six weeks, reports a new national Northwestern Medicine study. It also resulted in better self-reported physical health and positive attitudes toward caregiving.
“The caregivers who learned the skills had less depression, better self-reported physical health, more feelings of happiness and other positive emotions than the control group,” said lead study author Judith Moskowitz, professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She also is director of research at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Feinberg.
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