Clinical Reference Systems: Pediatric Advisor 10.0
Children of Parents with Mental Illness
Children who have a mentally ill parent have a higher risk
for developing mental illnesses than other children. The
risk is particularly strong when the parent's illness is
manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, alcoholism or other
drug abuse, or major depression. When both parents are
mentally ill, the chance is even greater that the child
might become mentally ill.
Risk can be inherited from parents through the genes. Some
risk also comes from parents' behavior or moods. Mental
disorders can keep parents from providing the love and
guidance necessary for a child's healthy development. An
inconsistent, unpredictable family environment contributes
to psychiatric illness in children. Mental illness can hurt
the marriage and the parenting abilities of the couple,
which in turn hurts the child.
Some protective or positive aspects of a child's life can
decrease the risk, including:
- understanding by the child that his or her parent is ill
and that the child is not to blame
- a stable home environment
- a sense of being loved by the ill parent
- a naturally stable and happy personality in the child
- inner strength and good coping skills in the child
- a strong relationship with a healthy adult
- friends
- interest in and success at school
- other outside interests for the child
- help from outside the family to improve the family
environment (for example, marital psychotherapy or a
class in parenting).
Medical, mental health, or social service professionals
working with mentally ill adults need to inquire about the
children and adolescents, especially about their mental
health and emotional development. It is often useful for
such youngsters to be referred to a child and adolescent
psychiatrist for an evaluation.
Individual or family psychiatric treatment can help a child
toward healthy development despite the problem of the
parental psychiatric illness. A trained professional can
help the family work with the positive elements in the home
and the natural strengths of the child. With treatment, the
family can learn ways to lessen the effects of a parent's
mental illness on the child.
Unfortunately, families, professionals, and society often
pay most attention to the mentally ill parent and ignore the
children in the family. Providing more attention and
support to the children of a psychiatrically ill parent is
an important way to help prevent mental illnesses from
passing from one generation to the next.
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