Parental Mental Health Concern

Many parents who are struggling with mental health concerns are loving and effective parents. However, parents’ mental health concerns can impact their young children in a number of ways. Whether illness is chronic or acute, impacts can be seen.

Whether illness is chronic or acute, impacts can be seen.

Protective Factors for Children

There are several factors that impact a family’s vulnerability and resiliency.

The level of understanding of the caregiver(s) about mental illness and the effects on self and children
The level of knowledge and understanding that children have about mental illness
The severity, chronicity, relapses, and hospitalizations associated with the mental illness
The child’s age at the onset of the parent’s illness, e.g., has the child been able to establish a secure attachment with the parent
The mental illness has been diagnosed and an effective treatment plan was set in place and followed
The presence of an additional caregiver, whether this is the spouse or not, can be a protective factor for the children

Supporting Families

The community, loved ones, and service providers can provide support to families in which one or more caregivers have mental health concerns. The following list provides suggestions for support.

If caregivers have mental health concerns, provide individual support along with family and parenting support. Assess what parents need and set up preventative programming.
Support caregivers to follow their treatment plan.
Focus on parent-child relationships.
Support families to identify what recovery means to them.
Acknowledge and build family strengths, while still acknowledging vulnerabilities.
Assist all family members to better understand, and talk about, mental illness.
Link families to their communities and other resources.
Create child-focused supports either by educating already existing services, such as the Kids Helpline, or creating new ones, such as peer support or camps.
Collect family information at intake into mental health services. At this point, assess the service needs of each member of the family.
Conduct a parenting capacity assessment to determine the current level of family functioning and if there are interventions or supports needed. Conduct this assessment at regular intervals, taking into account the chronic and changing nature of mental health/illness.
Create or use existing programming to provide respite care for children when their caregiver is hospitalized or relapsing.
Provide resiliency skill building programming for entire family.

What are the impacts on the young child?

Paternal (or partner) postpartum depression has been associated with adverse emotional and behavioural outcomes for children aged 3-5 years and an increased risk of conduct disorders in the children.

Those whose partners are experiencing postpartum depression often take over the role of primary caregiver during the time that their spouse is unable to do so. The young child may have to adapt to a new primary caregiver. If a caregiver experiences later onset depression, the attachment relationship that has already formed with the child may be impacted.

Prenatal Impact on the Mental Health of Children

There are some factors that impact children prenatally that will have an impact on their future mental health. These include:

Genetics
Prenatal alcohol exposure
Prenatal exposure to other substances, including tobacco
Nutrition
Biological abnormalities of the central nervous system
Environmental exposure to lead
Prenatal trauma
Maternal stress and anxiety

Maternal Mental Health Concerns

Approximately, 1 in 5 women experiences mental health concerns during and after pregnancy. For more information about postpartum depression and mental health issues, the impact on women, and how women can be supported, please see the Maternal Mental Health Section.

Paternal or Partner Depression

Although most research on postpartum depression has focused on the mother, partners of women who have experienced depression are 50% more likely to experience depression themselves. Partner depression may occur when the mother is experiencing postpartum depression, but often has a later onset.