Pediatric Advisor 2001.1 Children of Parents with Mental Illness Children who have a mentally ill parent have a higher risk for developing mental illnesses than other children. The risk is particularly strong when the parent's illness is manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, alcoholism or other drug abuse, or major depression. When both parents are mentally ill, the chance is even greater that the child might become mentally ill. Risk can be inherited from parents through the genes.
Some risk also comes from parents' behavior or moods.
Mental disorders can keep parents from providing the love and guidance necessary for a child's healthy development. An inconsistent, unpredictable family environment contributes to psychiatric illness in children. Mental illness can hurt the marriage and the parenting abilities of the couple, which in turn hurts the child. Medical, mental health, or social service professionals working with mentally ill adults need to inquire about the children and adolescents, especially about their mental health and emotional development. It is often useful for such youngsters to be referred to a child and adolescent psychiatrist for an evaluation.