Carers are often the last person anyone asks after. This short self-check helps you understand where you are — and what might help.
Burnout in caring rarely arrives all at once. It builds in small moments — a missed appointment for yourself, a friend you haven't called back, another night of broken sleep — that are each easy to wave away. "I'm just tired." "This is normal." "Everyone feels like this sometimes." Told often enough, those lines start to sound true, even when the toll is real.
It isn't a personal failing, and it isn't rare. Per AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving's Caregiving in the US 2025 report, 63 million Americans — about 1 in 4 adults — provided ongoing care for an adult or child with a complex medical condition or disability in the past year, up 20 million since 2015. Among them, 1 in 5 report being in fair or poor health themselves, nearly 1 in 4 struggle to maintain their own health because of caring, almost 1 in 4 experience social isolation (a figure that's been rising since 2020), and nearly 1 in 4 provide 40 or more hours of care a week.
Recognising the signs early — before exhaustion turns into real physical or mental health harm — is what this check is for. It's a moment of honest self-assessment, not a diagnosis. This tool is a self-reflection aid, not a clinical screening instrument for depression, anxiety, or any other condition. If your answers suggest you're really struggling, the next step is talking to your own GP or doctor, or a mental health professional — not relying on this page alone.
Source: AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the US 2025.
This self-check is based on the Zarit Burden Interview — one of the most widely used and validated tools for assessing carer burden in clinical research and practice worldwide.
It asks 12 questions about how caring has been affecting you. There are no right or wrong answers. Answer as honestly as you can — this is just for you.
Your answers stay entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere. When you close this tab, your responses are gone.
The 3am Crisis Guide tells you what to do when something is wrong and the GP is closed — falls, agitation, medication issues, medical emergencies, and when you yourself aren't coping.
Open the Crisis Guide →