Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:46:44.063Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Disruption of children's lives by maternal psychiatric admission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Valerie Hawes*
Affiliation:
Forensic Psychiatry Service, Box 175, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
David Cottrell
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds
*
Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Aims and method

The aim of the study was to investigate changes in child care arrangements after admission of mothers to acute psychiatric wards. Data were collected by interview where possible and from case notes.

Results

Twelve out of 63 children of mothers interviewed had to move house. Chronicity of psychiatric disorder was evident in half the mothers.

Clinical implications

Children's lives are affected by maternal psychiatric admission with the likelihood of repeated disruption where psychiatric disorder is chronic.

Type
Original papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Cottrell, D. (1989) Family therapy influences on general psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 201210.Google Scholar
Ekdahl, M. C., Rice, E. P. & Schmidt, M. (1962) Children of parents hospitalised for mental illness. American Journal of Public Health, 52, 428435.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gopfert, M., Webster, J. & Seeman, M. V. (eds) (1996) Parental Psychiatric Disorder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hatfield, B., Webster, J. & Mohamed, H. (1997) Psychiatric emergencies: assessing parents of dependent children. Psychiatric Bulletin, 21, 1922.Google Scholar
Oates, M. (1997) Patients as parents: the risk to children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170 (suppl. 32), 2227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. & Quinton, D. (1984) Parental psychiatric disorder: effects on children. Psychological Medicine, 14, 853880.Google Scholar
Stormont, F., Craig, T., Akakan, Z., et al (1997) Concerns about the children of psychiatric inpatients: what parents say. Psychiatric Bulletin, 21, 495497.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.