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• Posted August 20, 2026

Too Much Caregiving Can Harm Mental Health, Study Finds

Caregivers who spend more than half a workweek providing unpaid service to others are risking their own mental health, a new study says.

More than 20 hours a week delivering unpaid care increases a caregiver’s risk of depression, anxiety and other mental health problems, researchers reported recently in the journal Social Science & Medicine.

But if these folks are provided support, much of the negative impact to their mental health can be mitigated, the study showed.

“Policies that focus solely on who is a caregiver miss the point: how much someone is caregiving matters enormously for their well-being,” senior researcher Amélie Quesnel-Vallée said in a news release.

“Programs that connect intensive caregivers to emotional, informational and practical support (respite care, caregiver support groups, community services) could make a real difference,” Quesnel-Vallée added. She is chair of equity, ethics and policy at McGill University in Montreal. 

For the new study, researchers analyzed data for more than 51,000 Canadians ages 45 to 85, tracking them from 2011 to 2021 to see how their level of unpaid caregiving affected their psyche.

“Intensive caregivers (who spent more than 20 hours a week on caregiving) had worse mental health — lower life satisfaction and more depressive symptoms — while low-intensity caregivers (under 10 hours a week) actually reported higher life satisfaction than non-caregivers,” Quesnel-Vallée said.

Further, results showed that the only factor that buffered against the mental health toll of high-intensity caregiving was how much social support the helpers received.

“Policies should invest in strengths-based supports that empower caregivers through training and recognition of their skills and values,” lead investigator Zilin Li, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University, said in a news release.

More information

The National Institute on Aging has more about caregiving.

SOURCE: McGill University, news release, July 7, 2026