Parenthood and adult mental health

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511543838.004

2 - Parenthood and adult mental health

from Part I - Basic issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2009

Mary V. Seeman and

Edited by

Jeni Webster and

Michael Göpfert: Affiliation:
Webb House Democratic Therapeutic Community, Crewe
Jeni Webster: Affiliation:
5 Boroughs Partnership, Warrington
Mary V. Seeman: Affiliation:
University of Toronto

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Introduction

Because individuals and families seek relief from psychological distress from a number of different sources, confusion can arise as to the specific role of one professional versus another. Tugs of territorial war often exist among psychologists, social workers, child psychiatrists and adult psychiatrists, to mention only a few of the players. Each profession is armed with its own specialized weaponry of psychological interventions and rival factions not infrequently claim superiority. To some degree this has become a battleground for the distribution of limited resources. Statutory issues such as prescription rights cause bitter interprofessional disputes. The roles of mental health workers are not always sufficiently clearly delineated, nor can they ever be because human suffering knows no clear borders. So the professional field is rife with tensions, splits and competition while the needs of patients or service users go, at times, unmet. In our experience and in the opinion of others (Consumers' Association (UK), 2002), when the expertise of service users is recognized and when they are given a degree of power in the way services are designed and delivered, professional competition is reduced and interprofessional collaboration grows.

This book focuses on services for individuals with mental illness who are parents. In many systems of mental health service provision, the identity of the patient as a parent does not receive sufficient recognition (see Göpfert et al., Chapter 5).

Keywords

adult mental health gender mental health service provision parenthood patient psychiatrist

Type: Chapter
Information: Parental Psychiatric Disorder
Distressed Parents and their Families
, pp. 8 - 21

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543838.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abel, K., Buszewicz, M., Davison, S., Johnson, S. & Staples, E. (1996). Planning Community Mental Health Services for Women. London: Routledge

Abosh, B. & Collins, A. (ed.) (1996). Mental Illness in the Family. Toronto: University of Toronto Press

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Facts for families No. 39. Available via the AACP office (in the US: 800-333-7636 ext. 131, Nelson Tejada) or www.aacp.org/publications/factsfam/parentmi/htm

Anthony, E. J. & McGinnis, M. (1978). Counseling very disturbed parents. In Helping Parents Help Their Children, ed. L. E. Arnold, pp. 328–41. New York: Brunner and Mazel

Apfel, R. J. & Handel, M. H. (1993). Madness and Loss of Motherhood: Sexuality, Reproduction and Long-term Mental Illness. Washington: American Psychiatric Press

Appleby, L. & Dickens, C. (1993). Mothering skills of women with mental illness. British Medical Journal, 306, 348–9Google Scholar

Azar, B. (1997). Nature, nurture: not mutually exclusive. Studies on twins have established that most traits and behaviors are partially influenced by genes. APA Monitor, May 1997, American Psychological Association

Beardslee, W. R. (1990). Development of a clinician-based preventive intervention for families with affective disorders. Journal of Preventive Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 4, 39–60Google Scholar

Beardslee, W. R., Versage, E. & Gladstone, T. (1998). Children of affectively ill parents: a review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1134–41Google Scholar

Bentall, R. P. (2003). Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature. Penguin, Harmondsworth

Blanch, A. K., Nicholson, J. & Purcell, J. (1994). Parents with severe mental illness and their children: the need for human service intervention. Journal of Mental Health Administration, 21, 388–96Google Scholar

Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffit, T. E. et al. (2002). The role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science, 207, 851–4Google Scholar

Clarke, G. N., Hornbrook, M., Lynch, F. et al. (2001). A randomized trial of a group cognitive intervention for preventing depression in adolescent offspring of depressed parents. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 1127–34Google Scholar

Consumers' Association (UK) (2002). ‘Who are the experts, where is the expertise?’ Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin, 40, 55–6

Cowan, P. A. & Cowan, C. P. (1988). Changes in marriage during the transition to parenthood: Must we blame the baby? In The Transition to Parenthood: Current Theory and Research, ed. G. Y. Michaels & W. A. Gildberg, pp. 114–54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Cowling, V. (1996). Meeting the support needs of families with dependent children where a parent has a mental illness. Family Matters, 45, 22–5Google Scholar

Fishbein, D. (2000). How can neurobiological research inform prevention strategies? In D. Fishbein, ed. The Science, Treatment, and Prevention of Antisocial Behaviors: Application to the Criminal Justice System, ed. D. Fishbein, pp. 25–30. New York: Civic Research Institute, Inc

Garley, D., Gallop, R., Johnstone, N. & Pipitone, J. (1997). Children of the mentally ill: a qualitative focus group approach. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Nursing, 4, 97–103Google Scholar

Goodman, S. H. & Brumley, H. E. (1990). Schizophrenic and depressed mothers: relational deficits in parenting. Developmental Psychology, 26, 31–9Google Scholar

Hearle, J. & McGrath, J. (2000). Motherhood and schizophrenia. In Women and Schizophrenia, ed. D. J. Castle, J. McGrath & J. Kulkarni, pp. 79–94. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Hearle, J., Plant, K., Jenner, L., Barkla, J. & McGrath, J. (1999). A survey of contact with offspring and assistance with child care among parents with psychotic disorders. Psychiatric Services, 50, 1354–6Google Scholar

Hetherington, R., Baistow, K., Katz, I., Mesie, J. & Trowell, J. (2002). The Welfare of Children with Mentally Ill Parents: Learning from Inter-country Comparison. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons

Institute of Medicine (1994). Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders: Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research. Washington, DC: National Academy Press

Jacobsen, T., Miller, L. J. & Kirkwood, K. P. (1997). Assessing parenting capacity in individuals with severe mental illness: a comprehensive service. Journal of Mental Health Administration, 24, 189–99Google Scholar

Jellinek, M. S., Bishop, S. S., Murphy, J. M., Bederman, J. & Rosenbaum, J. (1991). Screening for dysfunction in the children of outpatients at a psychopharmacology unit. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 1031–6Google Scholar

Joseph, J. G., Joshi, S. V., Lewin, A. B. & Abrams, M. (1999). Characteristics and perceived needs of mothers with serious mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 50, 1357–9Google Scholar

Judge, K. A. (1994). Serving children, siblings, and spouses: understanding the needs of other family members. In Helping Families Cope with Mental Illness, ed. H. P. Lefley & J. Wasow. New York: Harwood

Kendler, K. S. (2001). Twin studies of psychiatric illness: an update. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 1005–14Google Scholar

Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P. A., Foster, C. L., Saunders, W. B., Stang, P. E. & Walters, E. E. (1997). Social consequences of psychiatric disorders. II Teenage parenthood. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1405–11Google Scholar

Leff, J. (2001). The Unbalanced Mind. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson

Lerner, R. M. (2001). Toward a democratic ethnotheory of parenting for families and policymakers: a developmental systems perspective. Parenting: Science and Practice, 1, 339–51Google Scholar

Louis, A., Condon, J., Shute, R. & Elzinga, R. (1997). The development of the Louis MACRO (Mother and Children Risk Observation) forms: assessing parent–infant–child risk in the presence of maternal mental illness. Child Abuse and Neglect, 21, 589–606Google Scholar

Mannion, E., Mueser, K. & Solomon, P. (1994). Designing psycho educational services for spouses of persons with serious mental illness. Community Mental Health Journal, 30, 177–90Google Scholar

McKie, C. (1993). An overview of lone parenthood in Canada. In Single Parent Families -Perspectives on Research and Policy, ed. J. Hudson & B. Galaway. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing

McLanahan, S. S. & Sandefur, G. (1994). Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Miller, L. J. (1992). Comprehensive care of pregnant mentally ill women. Journal of Mental Health Administration, 19, 170–7Google Scholar

Moffitt, T. (2002). Quoted by C. Cookson in ‘Variations in gene cause different reaction to abuse’. Financial Times, 2.8.2002, p. 4Google Scholar

Monahan, J. & Steadman, H. J. (ed.) (1994). Violence and Mental Disorder: Developments in Risk Assessment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Mowbray, C. T., Oyserman, D. & Ross, S. (1995). Parenting and the significance of children for women with a serious mental illness. Journal of Mental Health Administration, 22, 189–200Google Scholar

Munroe-Blum, H., Boyle, M. H. & Offord, D. R. (1988). Single-parent families: child psychiatric disorder and school performance. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 214–19Google Scholar

Murray, L., Fiori-Cowley, A., Hooper, R. & Cooper, P. J. (1996). The impact of postnatal depression and associated adversity on early mother-infant interactions, and later infant outcome. Child Development, 67, 2512–26Google Scholar

Nicholson, J. & Blanch, A. (1995). Rehabilitation for parenting roles for people with serious mental illness. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 18, 109–19Google Scholar

Nicholson, J., Geller, J., Fisher, W. & Dion, G. (1993). State policies and programs that address the needs of mentally ill mothers in the public sector. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44, 484–9Google Scholar

Nicholson, J., Sweeney, E. M. & Geller, J. L. (1998). Mothers with mental illness I. The competing demands of parenting and living with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 49, 635–42Google Scholar

Nicholson, J., Nason, M. W., Calabresi, A. O. et al. (1999). Fathers with severe mental illness: characteristics and comparisons. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 69, 134–41Google Scholar

Nomura, Y., Wickramaratne, P. J., Warner, V. et al. (2002). Family discord, parental depression and psychopathology in offspring: ten-year follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 402–9Google Scholar

Oates, M. (1997). Patients as parents: the risk to children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 22–7Google Scholar

O'Connor, T. G., Deater-Deckard, K., Fulker, D., Rutter, M. & Plomin, R. (1998). Genotype-environment correlations in late childhood and early adolescence: antisocial behavioural problems and coercive parenting. Developmental Psychology, 34, 970–81Google Scholar

Orvachel, H., Weissman, M. M. & Kidd, K. K. (1980). Children and depression: the children of depressed parents: the childhood of depressed patients; depression in children. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2, 1–16Google Scholar

Oyserman, D., Mowbray, C. T. & Zemenczuk, J. A. (1994). Resources and supports for mothers with severe mental illness. Health and Social Work, 19, 132–42Google Scholar

Plomin, R., Defries, J. C., McClearn, G. E. & McGuffin, P. (2001). Behavioural Genetics, 4th edn. New York: Worth Publishers

Poole, R. (1996). General adult psychiatrists and their patients' children. In Parental Psychiatric Disorder: Distressed Parents and their Families, ed. M. Göpfert, J. Webster & M. V. Seeman, pp. 3–6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Ramsay, R., Howard, L. & Kumar, C. (1998). Schizophrenia and safety of parenting of infants: a report from a U.K. mother and baby service. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 44, 127–34Google Scholar

Reiss, D., Neiderhiser, J. M., Hetherington, E. M. & Plomin, R. (2000). The Relationship Code. Deciphering Genetic and Social Influences on Adolescent Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

Rolland, J. S. (1994). Families, Illness and Disability: An Integrative Treatment Approach. New York: Basic Books

Royal College of Psychiatrists (2002). Domestic Violence. Council Report CR 102. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists

Seeman, M. V. (1983). Schizophrenic men and women require different treatment programs. Journal of Psychiatric Treatment and Evaluation, 5, 143–8Google Scholar

Seeman, M. V. (1997a). Psychopathology in women and men: focus on female hormones. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1641–7Google Scholar

Seeman, M. V. (1997b). CNS Clinical drug trials and women. In The Handbook of Psychopharmacology Trials, ed. M. Hertzman & D. E. Feltner, pp. 100–22. New York: New York University Press

Seeman, M. V. (2000). Are gender differences in psychopathology due to hormones?Primary Psychiatry, 7, 47–50Google Scholar

Seeman, M. V. (2002). Schizophrenia: two sides of the mirror. Queens Quarterly, 109, 191–205Google Scholar

Silverman, M. (1989). Children of psychiatrically ill parents: a prevention perspective. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 40, 1257–65Google Scholar

The Michael Sieff Foundation (1997). Keeping Children in Mind: Balancing Children's Needs with Parents' Mental Health. Report of the 12th annual conference hosted by the Michael Sieff Foundation, Flimwell, East Sussex, UK

Webster-Stratton, H. M. (1994). Troubled Families – Problem Children: Working with Parents: A Collaborative Process. New York: John Wiley & Sons

White, C., Nicholson, J., Fisher, W. et al. (1995). Mothers with severe mental illness caring for children. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 183, 398–403Google Scholar

Wykes, T., Brammer, M., Mellers, J. et al. (2002). Effects on the brain of a psychological treatment: cognitive remediation therapy. Functional magnetic imaging in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 144–52Google Scholar

Zemenchuk, J., Rogosch, F. A. & Mowbray, C. T. (1995). The seriously mentally ill woman in the role of parent: characteristics, parenting sensitivity, and needs. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 18, 77–92Google Scholar

Book contents

2 - Parenthood and adult mental health

Summary

Keywords

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive