Parental Mental Illness

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Psychological Impact of Parental Mental Illness on Children Mental illness is defined as an illness, but to family members, their behavior is perceived as a family member becoming more extreme in the things he or she says and does, or that they have gone ‘crazy.’ This confusion surrounding defining the causes and symptoms of mental illnesses pervades within the mental health profession as well. Some people view this as beneficial, since mentally ill individuals and their family members can draw their own conclusions about the disease. But this lack of understanding of mental illness negatively affects a specific population in dealing with mentally ill adults: their children. The absence of an explanation of mental illness to children is …show more content…

They view their actions as doing what must be done for their families’ and their own survival. In families with parents with physical illnesses and disabilities, children’s lives are altered, but they often receive recognition for their caring actions. In families affected by mental illness, children provide more emotional support. They often don’t receive recognition, even though their duties as a young caretaker may be just as physically demanding. These duties may include administering medications, cleaning up after their parents, or calling emergency medical services. Not only do these children not receive recognition for their actions, they may also feel a sense of blame for their parents disorder and feel that they are the cause of distress and …show more content…

Substance abuse disorders afflict an estimated thirty to fifty percent of adults with mental illness (Grant et al. 2004). Children with parents addicted to alcohol or illicit drugs develop dysfunctional coping behaviors, which can later lead to psychosocial and emotional problems (Fox and Gilbert, 1994). Children with addict parents can suffer from poor interpersonal relationships, poor quality of life, loss of self esteem and extreme stress. Later in life, these individuals are predisposed to develop disorders such as anxiety, depression and substance abuse (de Jong Gierveld 1998). Studies have established a positive correlation between substance abuse, mental illness, and adult mortality. This can negatively affect a child in two ways. Firstly, in the case of the death of a parent, the child is exposed to intense emotional trauma. Secondly, the child adopts these unhealthy, high risk behaviors which increases their chance of death in their adult life (Bruckner et al.

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