Young children's experiences of living with a parent with bipolar disorder: Understanding the child's perspective

Abstract

Objectives To explore the experiences of young children of living with a parent with bipolar disorder (BD) and how this impacts on their emotional well‐being. Design Qualitative study using a computer‐assisted semi‐structured interview, ‘In My Shoes’ (IMS). Methods Ten children aged between 4 and 10 years with a parent with BD identified via self‐help groups were interviewed about their experience of family life. Thematic analysis was used following transcription. Results Four main themes emerging from thematic analysis were as follows: perception of parents; knowledge and awareness of BD; managing family life with a ‘bipolar’ parent; and living in a family with BD. Four‐year‐old children could participate in the IMS interviews and discuss their parent's mood, behaviour, and mental health. Children had candid and insightful discussions about their parent's BD including symptoms and parenting, and could reflect on how having a parent with BD affected them emotionally and practically. Older children were better able to articulate their parent's illness and its impact. Conclusions This exploratory study represents an important step in examining directly experiences of young children whose parents have BD. Using IMS, it was possible to gather insightful information from children to generate hypotheses and influence service development. Children of all ages had some knowledge and understanding of their parent's illness, describing both positive and negative experiences in the family. Further research to build understanding of children's perspectives and the support they feel they and their family would benefit from would enhance the development of appropriate services and interventions. Practitioner points Using age‐appropriate tools, it is possible to elicit the views of young children about their parent's mental health and parenting. Young children have insight into the impact of bipolar disorder in the family on themselves and family members.

Adult children of parents with mental illness: parenting journeys

“…Findings from this study are consistent with previous studies regarding children and adult children’s hypersensitivity to and for parental emotions, when their parent presented with mental illness [ 1 , 29 ]. However, this study extended this knowledge to suggest that adult children who had lived with childhood parental mental illness, also experienced a similar hypersensitivity to their own children’s emotions, possibly resulting in their own parenting anxiety.…”

Talking to children about parental mental illness: The experiences of well parents

“…They are sensitive to cues discouraging conversations about parental mental illness and might conceal their worries and questions, so as not to burden their family further (Van Parys et al, 2015). Younger children, especially, are more dependent on others to reach out to them (Mordoch & Hall, 2008) and are likely to blame themselves for their parent’s illness (Backer, Murphy, Fox, Ulph, & Calam, 2017). So while being able to create distance from an acutely distressed parent might benefit the child, it might be important for parents to also provide an appropriate explanation of the situation and keep parent–child communication open and ongoing.…”

Factors Influencing Parental Awareness about Newborn Screening

“…This has led to the expansion of screening panels from only a few to dozens of disorders. Since then it has been documented that parental education about NBS is not effective; parents are not receiving the information or are unware about screening and its principal aspects [9][10][11][12]. The last trimester of pregnancy has been suggested as the optimal period for information provision [1], but a survey carried out among EU member states revealed that 45% of them inform parents only after birth at the time of blood sampling [6].…”