Issues Facing Parents with Mental Illness
Soccer practice, PTA meeting, family dinner, and being a spouse are just some of the things that parents deal with today. If that isn’t challenging enough try adding depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia. For parents with a mental illness these daily tasks are much harder to handle.
One in four American families is affected by mental illness. As a result, these families are more likely to be broken by divorce. Mental illness in a parent, if not addressed, can cause emotional and behavioral problems in children. If a parent is depressed, for example, they are less involved emotionally in their children’s lives.
The debilitating forces of mental illness can cause children to take on abnormal levels of responsibility in caring for themselves and in managing the household. These challenges faced by children can cause a range of mental health problems for them. Most of the mental health problems faced by these children stem from being isolated by their peers because of the stigma placed on mental illness.
Not only does this stigma affect the children, it also affects the parent. The negative view placed on parents with a mental illness keeps many from seeking the help they need. Many times when parents with a mental illness seek help they are deemed “unfit” to raise their children. Seventy percent of parents with a mental illness have lost custody of their children. Many families, when seeking help, find themselves in an unending cycle of loss.
Addressing the needs of these families requires not only personal treatment, but family care as well. The current emphasis is on symptom management and individual healing. Shifts are being made towards family care integration to keep these struggling families together. Treatment is most effective when multiple systems work together. This is why communities should strive to improve care for these vulnerable families. “Mental Health America: When a Parent Has a Mental Illness: Issues and Challenges.
Written for Seven Counties, Inc.
“Mental Health America: When a Parent Has a Mental Illness: Issues and Challenges.” Mental Health America: Welcome to Mental Health America. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. <http://mentalhealthamerica.net/go/information/get-info/strengthening-families/when-a-parent-has-a-mental-illness-issues-and-challenges-t/when-a-parent-has-a-mental-illness-issues-and-challenges>.
