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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
07:56

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Published on: September 19, 2019

The children of mentally ill parents

Fritz Mattejat1, Helmut Remschmidt

  • 1Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie der Philipps-Universität, Hans-Sachs-Strasse 6, Marburg, Germany. mattejat@med.uni-marburg.de

Deutsches Arzteblatt International
|July 24, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Children of parents with mental illness face increased psychiatric risks due to genetic and environmental factors. Improved preventive strategies, including specialized treatment and support, are crucial for these at-risk children.

Area of Science:

  • Psychiatry
  • Child Development
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Children of parents with mental illness have a significantly higher lifetime risk of developing psychiatric disorders.
  • This elevated risk necessitates careful consideration in healthcare provision and family support systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the literature on the increased psychiatric risk in children of mentally ill parents.
  • To discuss effective preventive measures and their essential prerequisites.

Main Methods:

  • Selective literature review.

Main Results:

  • The heightened psychiatric risk stems from a combination of genetic predispositions and impaired parent-child interactions due to parental illness.
  • Families with mentally ill parents often experience more adverse factors and a greater risk of child abuse.
  • Genetic and psychosocial factors interact, with genetic makeup influencing the impact of environmental stressors.

Conclusions:

  • Preventive measures for children of mentally ill parents require significant enhancement.
  • Successful prevention programs depend on specialized parental illness treatment, psychoeducation, and tailored family support, such as self-help groups.
Abstract

Keywords:
family medicinemental illnessparent-child relationshippediatric illnessprevention

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