Many parents go through the same phase. This is a study conducted by researchers at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Conducted on a panel of 1005 parents aged 30 to 49, it made it possible to identify the feeling that parents all have in common: lack of support in their parenting. Struck by isolation and parental exhaustion, young parents often feel helpless and have the feeling of not being able to rely on those around them.
38% of parents believe they receive no support in fulfilling their role
In fact, 66% of parents surveyed believe that the role of parent requires them to isolate themselves and reinforces their feeling of loneliness. 38% believe that they receive no support in fulfilling their role as parents. A feeling exacerbated by that of being isolated from the rest of the social body. Thus, 79% of parents admit that they would like or would have liked to have resources to exchange with other parents. “Find a parent group or parent-child class where you will always see the same people. This is how connections are created. It can’t be just one event.”recommends Kate Gawlik, researcher, to CNBC.
Added to this isolation is parental exhaustion. 62% of parents say they are exhausted by parenting and even believe they are in a state of parental burnout. Moïra Mikolajczak, professor of psychology, believes that the stress triggered by parenthood sets in too much over time and causes harmful effects on the mental and physical health of parents. She identifies there a “exhaustion syndrome that results from prolonged exposure to the stress of parenting, in the absence of sufficient resources to compensate”.
An isolation that exhausts
According to the psychologist, exhaustion is physical and emotional among young parents. The feeling is similar to a feeling of being fed up, of no longer being able to think, reason, take a step back. This ends up having notable impacts on overall health parents. Then, this sensation increases and it becomes ” too much ” for young parents, who can put in place a repression of their emotions or avoidance strategies in order to dissociate themselves from reality which has become too difficult.
According to the psychologist, this cycle generally ends with the emergence of feelings such as shame or guilt to not have ” successful ” to overcome all this parental burden. Here again, isolation plays a major role in the drift from these states of physical and psychological distress. At the first signs of exhaustion, parents should try to talk about it to those around them and to a healthcare professional.
