Experiences of Having a Parent with Serious Mental Illness: An Interpretive Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Literature

Abstract

Objectives Previous research found that burdens are put on relatives to patients with serious mental illness. A majority of the studies have described the situation of being a husband/wife or parent of someone who is mentally ill. However, little is known about the perspective of childhood experiences and the effect on adult life from having a parent with mental illness. Hence, the purpose of this review was to investigate experiences of having a parent with serious mental illness. Methods We used a qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis. Five relevant databases were chosen: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. We found 4302 studies in our initial search. Fourteen met the inclusion criteria and the quality assessment. Results The findings are presented in four themes: (1) Growing up in a dysfunctional home environment; (2) The child's feelings and thoughts; (3) The need of support; and (4) The lingering effects in adult life. Conclusions We found that experiences of growing up in a dysfunctional home can result in relational issues later in life and that the need for support can persist into adult life. This has implications for clinical practice when encountering these patients.

Do Current Measures of Polygenic Risk for Mental Disorders Contribute to Population Variance in Mental Health?

“…47 Conversely, measures of family history also mediate environmental effects such as higher rates of birth and pregnancy complications, 48–50 growing up in an unfavorable home environment, 51 out-of-home placement, 52 elevated divorce rate, alterations in parental communication, 53 altered school functioning, 54 and the psychosocial impact of growing up with a parent with mental illness. 55 What the results do indicate, however, is that current transdiagnostic measures of polygenic risk lack impact in epidemiological general population studies, beyond very small but statistically significant associations. Genetic factors may contribute to variance of mental health in population-based samples, but it appears that they are not captured by the current version of various transdiagnostic PRS.…”

The clinical characterization of the patient with primary psychosis aimed at personalization of management

“…This is likely in part explained by the fact that particularly parental family history also reflects environmental influences, such as higher rates of birth and pregnancy complications 230,231 , growing up in an unfavorable home environment 232 , out-of-home placement 233 , elevated divorce rate, alterations in parental communication 234 , and poor school performance 235 . The sizeable impact of growing up with a parent with severe mental illness on psychological and social development has been recently reviewed 236 . Therefore, a positive family history should be accompanied by an examination of the devel-opmental impact of parental psychopathology and the clinical needs associated with this.…”

“…Family history is also of direct clinical relevance, as the first episode of primary psychosis typically occurs when patients are still dependent on and/or living with their parents. The presence of parental psychopathology may indicate reduced family resilience and increased need for family support 236 .…”

Childhood experiences pursue adulthood for better and worse: a qualitative study of adults' experiences after growing up with a severely mentally ill parent in a small-scale society

“…Painful experiences linger in the adult children, resulting in ambivalent, strained and confusing relationships (Foster, 2010; Murphy et al., 2011; O'Connell, 2008). In a meta-synthesis aimed at investigating adult life with a severely mentally ill parent, Källquist and Salzman-Erikson (2019) documented that feelings, thoughts, relationships, personal growth, health and wellbeing were affected. The findings of this meta-synthesis underline what was previously reported; adverse emotions during childhood, such as fear of mentally ill parents hurting themselves and mistrust related to their unpredictable behaviour, remain in adult life (Mechling, 2016; Murphy et al., 2015).…”

“…Furthermore, adult children have been documented to feel invisible to health and social service providers (Maunu and Stein, 2010). A tendency to conceal the mental illness socially adds to long-standing feelings of shame and embarrassment (Källquist and Salzmann-Erikson, 2019; Murphy et al., 2017). All the same, adult children have reported that, on parents' good days, their childhood was filled with hope, joy and care.…”