Naming the Emotional Weight of the Sandwich Generation

Psychologist Lauren Dennelly, writing in Psychology Today on July 3, reframes the sandwich generation's double load as more than a scheduling problem. Many women in midlife are caring for their children and their aging parents at the same time, she writes, and paying an emotional cost that the logistics alone do not capture.

Dennelly adds a clinical layer with parentification, the experience of being pulled into a caregiving role, sometimes since childhood, which compounds the strain of carrying both generations at once. She names two steps forward: an individual commitment to self-care, and long-term policy change. The first is what a caregiver can reach today, and the second is what would keep the weight from landing on her alone.