Mental Health&Family
When a parent has a mental illness, there may be times when
they can’t give their children the love and care they need. They might find it
hard to stick to a routine and do things like cook meals, do the washing or
help with homework. Children can get distressed and confused when a parent
behaves in ways that are hard to understand.
They may worry that they will get hurt or that their parent
will hurt themselves. Mental health of families is meaningful to me because
it’s something that affects relationship and that cause distress for the rest
of the family. Most times attention is been paid more on the person with mental
health more than the rest of the family. Other family members are usually
overwhelm with the situation. Children living in households where a parent has
a severe mental health problem are more likely to live in poverty - only 24% of
adults with long term mental health problem are in paid employment.
There is only
one psychiatrist for every 400,000 people in India India
The reasons for
these attitudes are complex and varied, and are deeply embedded within local cultures.
Yet there is not a single text book of psychiatry in India
As children’s
advocates in this field this information will help us in future to provide
support and dignity for carers and families.
Sushrut. J, UCL UCL
Cultural Consultation Service & International links Reinventing India’sMental
Health Care retrieved from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ccs/International_activities/mental_health_care
Adebisi,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was very informative. My family had a saying about my mother before she passed, God rest her soul. The saying was "If Mama's not happy-nobody's happy!" I believe that the mood of a realtionship can be affected if a person suffers from mental illness. Children learn best by observing thier caretakers. If a parent is mentally unstable, the child will get the wrong signal as to what a healthy environment is. I have a friend whose mother suffered from bipolar. As a child, my friend remembered the unfortunate behaviors of her mom(cursing, fussing, absent) and always said that before her mom was diagnosed, family members stayed away from her because she was 'crazy' This impacted my friend and she ended up running away several times before moving out at sixteen. An unstable environment is caused by mental illness, and it impacts the behavior and feelings of those affected.
Adebisi - What powerful information about India! And oh, so eye opening! It is mind boggling to think that women with mental illness are basically shunned. Do you know to what degree of mental illness a person must have before they are sent away? I wonder how women who experience post partum depression cope? How sad.
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