One in four parent carers who have a child with a long-term illness or disability have thought about suicide, while one in 12 have made a plan to take their own lives, a new study has found.
The research, which is published in Archives in Suicide Research, is the first study to assess suicide risk in parent carers, and the authors are now calling for policymakers to “step up and take the results seriously”.
In total, 750 parent carers in England were interviewed and asked about suicidal ideation. Previous research has shown that parent carers experience high rates of physical and mental illness, social isolation, relationship breakdown, and financial distress, but little was known about suicidal ideation until now.
Four in 10 (42%) parent carers said they had experienced suicidal thoughts and behaviours while caring, yet only half of these carers had ever disclosed or sought help for these experiences. A small number of carers (2.5%) has attempted suicide while caring, including one carer in the two weeks before the survey.
This level of suicidal ideation exceeds that reported in the general population (5%), and the rates reported in other countries among carers (16% in Australians caring for a family member with dementia and 18% among family carers in Korea).
The authors suggest the high rates of suicidal ideation may be explained by “more than a decade of austerity which, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to the closure of some social care services, under-funding of the National Health Service (NHS), and reduced access to specialist education, all of which have increased the burden on parent carers.”
Various risk factors were also identified including depression, entrapment, dysfunctional coping, and a mental health diagnosis.
Carers who were involved in the study say they are lacking mental health support, because they “don’t feel safe” telling professionals about how they are coping in fear of their child being taken away.
Julie, a parent carer and co-researcher on the study, explains: “When we first talked about doing this research, parent carers were scared to even say the word ‘suicide’. Because it’s hard to explain to people that you can love your child and want the best for them, but also be so overwhelmed that you want to kill yourself.
“Every parent carer lives in fear of having their child taken away if social services think we aren’t coping, so we simply don’t feel safe to tell our GPs or social workers how we’re feeling. And even when we do muster up the courage, often nothing happens to address the cause and relieve the burden of care.”
Lead author, Associate Professor Siobhan O’Dwyer from the University of Birmingham, says these results are a ‘clear sign’ that current policies are not supporting carers as well as they should be, and she urges policymakers to ‘step up’ and heed these results.
“Parent carers love their kids and want the best for them, but they often feel trapped in the caring role. While other people’s kids become increasingly independent as they grow up, parents of disabled or seriously ill children know they’ll have to provide essential care for the rest of their lives. And when you combine this with the impacts of austerity, a crumbling health system, and systemic failures in social care, it’s not surprising that parent carers become overwhelmed by the caring role and see suicide as the only way out,” she said.
“The support currently available for carers is not fit for purpose”, Dr O’Dwyer concludes. “If more than 40% of parent carers are contemplating suicide, it’s a clear sign that things like carers allowance, carers leave, and carers assessments are not enough to mitigate the serious impact of caring. Parent carers desperately need policy makers to step up and take these results seriously.”
Carers who need urgent support can call The Samaritans on 116 123 or text SHOUT to 85258.
