Abstract
Caregiver stress is a growing problem with an aging population; many spouses are cast in the caregiver role for extended periods. Pre-existing anxiety disorders commonly recur in the face of caregiver stress. This chapter narrates the case of a 71-year-old retired professional woman, serving as caregiver for a husband with dementia. The stress of the caregiver role served to trigger a recurrence of a previously treated anxiety disorder. The case narrative illustrates the value of breath training and heart rate variability biofeedback for the anxiety disorder, as well as an effort to instill sustainable self-regulation skills and lifestyle changes for greater resilience in this long-term situation.
This chapter is adapted with permission of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback from a previous version that appeared as: D. Moss (2016a), The house is crashing down on me: Integrating mindfulness, breath training, and heart rate variability biofeedback for an anxiety disorder in a 71-year old caregiver. Biofeedback, 44(3), 160-167. doi: 10.5298/1081-5937-44.3.02.
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McGrady, A., Moss, D. (2018). A Pathways Approach for an Anxiety Disorder. In: Integrative Pathways. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89313-6_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89313-6_9
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