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My Parents Are Mentally Ill

Plea for children of mentally ill

More needs to be done to support the children of parents with mental illness, says charity Barnardo's.
Ref. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7446681.stm

Ill Mentally Parents My

That is real difficult to deal with cause on one part you love them and on another part you're kind of embarrassed about what they do/ say. I feel sorry for one person I know in this situation. Sometimes its hard to know what is sanity and what isn't unless you talk with some other people to help you confirm you're not going insane.

My Parents Are Mentally Ill Health & Special Psychology

I found this article to be very interesting. As a mental health professional I deal with these issues frequently. I am often the liaison between the family and the hospital. It can be very difficult when you have a family member with a mental illness. When there are small children involved it becomes even more challenging. Most people have a hard enough time coming to terms with mental illness and the stigma often attached to it. I agree that services should be made available for he children. Unfortunately this is often not the case. Sometimes they just are not available, but other times the family is resistent.
Psychiatric hospitals are not the most child friendly environments. The hospital where I work is new and "state of the art." There is a nice atrium where parents may visit with children, if appropriate. Many facilities do not have this, they are often older facilities that do not provide a pleasant environment. Even in the best of conditions it may not be appropriate for children to visit. Depending on the severity of the parent's illness it could be more traumatic for them to see them than to wonder where they have gone. It is always best to work with families on a case by case basis and try to meet the needs of the individual family. Perhaps someday available resources will be able to match the need.

Edited: alskann on 23rd Jun, 2008 - 3:30am

Ill Mentally Parents My

Like alskann has stated, there should be more facilities for children to visit their mentall ill parents.

As a child, I had a mentally ill father. I was encouraged by the family doctor to visit him at his home (he did not live with me), but after awhile I could not. My father had schizophrenia and at the age of 9, I could not deal with my father being the father I knew one minute, and a totally different person the next. I still can't deal with it. I stopped seeing my father and have since not seen him.

Looking back now, I think my relationship with my father could have succeeded in if the meetings had taken place in a safe, public area. Supervision for the visits would also have helped. As a child, it was hard for me to judge whether his behaviour was appropriate or not, and what I should do to keep myself safe. If I was in a safe, public area, safety would not be far away, or if someone was supervising, they could decide what was appropriate behaviour or not.

Ill Mentally Parents My

Few children born to parents with serious mental illness live with both parents while growing up

Serious mental illness such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia has been shown to affect relationships and parenting capabilities. Children of parents with serious mental illness are vulnerable, and therefore comprehensive knowledge about their life circumstances is warranted for public health strategies to provide helpful supportive services. Ref. Source 7a.