Caregivers of cancer patients, who are most often kin or close family members, also suffer from depression and other mental health issues that need to be addressed, doctors and psychologists said at a city hospital on Tuesday.
If the caregiver stays well, it has a direct bearing on the patient. The care given to the patient is better, said oncologist Subir Ganguly.
A psycho-oncologist said a young woman once told her that she sometimes felt she had to invest a lot of time in her mother, a cancer patient. "She said while her friends were pursuing higher education or working, she was spending all her time looking after her mother. At the same time, she felt very guilty for having these thoughts. This is the kind of mental state of caregivers," said Arunima Datta, clinical psychologist and psycho-oncologist at Medica Superspecialty Hospital.
Datta said sometimes patients tell her their family members were becoming over-protective and this impacted their mental health. "Family members become short-tempered. They see their loved ones deteriorating despite trying to stop it," she said.
Ganguly, senior consultant and advisor, Medica Cancer Project, said the hospital has started a clinic, Monobina, for caregivers with their mental health issues. "This is a free clinic. Caregivers of patients not under treatment in Medica can come, too," he said.