According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bipolar disorder, also called manic-depressive disorder, is a mental illness that causes extreme mood sifts. This illness has been shown to be highly disturbing to family members. Although there are no statistics about the number of children who live with a bipolar parents in the United States, a study by Dr. Nicholson and colleagues that was published by the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2000 states that approximately 65 percent of women and 52 percent of the men who received psychiatric treatment in a period lasting a year, and starting in the June of 2001, were parents.
Neglect
According to the Wisconsin Mental Health and Substance Abuse Workgroup's State Call to Action report, children of bipolar parents often experience serious neglect. While the parent is trapped in her state, she may be unable to provide food, shelter, and security for her children. Thus, it is quite common for these children to be homeless and suffer from poverty. Thus, it comes as no surprise that such parents often lose the custody of their children. Dr. Nicholson and colleagues stated in a study published by the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2000 that up to 80 percent of parents with mental illnesses might lose the custody of their children.
Risk For Mental Illnesses
A meta-analytic study done by Dr. Beardslee and colleagues published in the 37th volume of “Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry” in 1998 combined the results from several studies and reported that 61 percent of children whose parents suffer from major depressive disorder developed a psychiatric disorder during childhood or adolescence. These children were also found to be four times more likely to develop an affective disorder than children of healthy parents. The problems exhibited by children of unhealthy parents often include, for example, interpersonal difficulties and problems with attachment. However, strong genetic components of many mental illnesses may effect these statistics. Thus, it is sometimes difficult to say whether the mental illnesses developed by children of mentally sick parent were caused by genetic influence, or the exposure to their parent's illness.
Children not Affected by Their Parents
Despite of the fact that many children with bipolar parents will have numerous problems, it is possible that some will never develop any. Many studies have focused on finding out what protected children unaffected by their parent's illness. One thing that these children have in common is that they often have close relationships with other individuals. These people might be a siblings, teachers, or perhaps grandparents. Regardless, they provide stability and security that the child needs to grow up to be mentally healthy. These arguments were supported by findings presented in a doctoral dissertation by Narella Foster at the University of Griffith School of Nursing. In her dissertation, she also reported that children who were not affected by their bipolar parents, often had a hobby that they enjoyed and could focus on. Yet, some children of bipolar parents seem to develop without problems, and then, unexpectably, develop mental illnesses.
References
- National Institute of Mental Health: Bipolar Disorder
- University of Massachusetts Medical School; Critical Issues for Parents with Mental Illness and their Families Center for Mental Health Services Research, Department of Psychiatry; Nicholson J., Biebel, MD., K., Hinden, MD et al.; 2001
- Griffith University: A Narrative Inquiry Into the Experineces of Adult Children of Parents with Serious Mental Illness
- Wisconsin Mental Health and Substance Abuse Workgroup: A State Call to Action
- “Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry”; Children of Affectively Ill Parents: A Review of the Past 10 Years; W.R. Beardslee, E. Versage, T. Gladstone; 1998.
