BENGALURU: There is no doubt on the struggles that cancer patients go through. But while there are
counselling sessions given out to them to help get through the process, there is one lot which seems to be left out, who also requires an equal amount of support in terms of mental health – caregivers. Caregivers or attenders could be a close family member or loved ones who take care of the patient.
While they go through stressful situations such as financial burdens and taking care of patient-related complications, many a times, they go through depression. “It is not easy for caregivers to put up a fake smile because they want to make the patient feel good. So they end up getting depressed. Pinkathon started an art therapy session to help de-stress and make one feel confident about themselves,” says Sharmista Shankara Narayana who has been a caregiver for 12 years.
While art does not just pertain to painting alone, it also includes music, dance, cooking and so on. “The frequency of art therapy varies from patient to patient. Some prefer individual sessions and some prefer group ones so they can rely on each other for support,” says Vasudha Kottapalli, a counsellor at Karunashraya for over a year. “We do a minimum of four art sessions for a week where out of nine patients, at least five caregivers will be present,” she adds.
Poornima Prakash, another counsellor for 13 years does counselling for home-care. “Most of these patients come from low-income families. And due to religious reasons, some of the patients want to die in their own home and in the presence of their family. So it also takes a toll on the caregivers,” says Poornima.
Using art as a medium, Sharmista also explains that while painting, the colours used also describes the mood of the attender. “If its white, then they are in a peaceful mood. So colours mean something,” she says.