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Abstract

The present review presents a model whereby parents of children with SN experience higher levels of stress, frustration, depression, and fatigue compared to parents of TD children. As a result, they may have impaired executive functions, emotional overload, and difficulty interacting with their children. All of these are related to difficulties in applying adaptive ER strategies, and to the use of maladaptive strategies. The use of maladaptive ER strategies has been linked to an increase in stress, anxiety, and depression levels. This creates a recurring cycle, which leads to the establishment of maladaptive ER patterns among parents of children with SN. And so, a paradox is obtained: parents of children with SN might benefit most from using adaptive ER strategies, as they experience high emotional distress, but the mechanisms required to support such regulatory needs may be impaired when the individual is stressed, emotionally exhausted or experience emotional overload.