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Children's Mental Disorder

Unhealthy relationship as a cause of children's mental disorder

By LP SteinbeckPublished about a year ago 5 min read
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Child pictured in the middle of divided parents

Unhealthy relationship in a family as cause of children’s mental disorder, yes or no?

Our definitions of family vary from person to person, though if you ask, most will say family is about trust, acknowledgement, learning, solidarity, and love, at the very least. Yet, it would also not be surprising that some of those same individuals could describe periods of childhood in which the family relationships were not healthy. This might be parent to parent relationship, parent to child, or anyone that is close enough in daily life to have familial status. Yes, they could say there were less than ideal relationship dynamics, though adults often do not see their family life as having been ’out of the norm’, usually because they survived it, even when problems of neglect or abuse existed.

Children are the most loyal and innocent, not comprehending that they are not at fault, lacking the ability to surmount the disparity between loving and respecting, or feeling sad because individuals meant to provide their security are failing to do so.

The question of whether or not dysfunctional family relationships are the cause of children’s mental disorder is consistently asked and studied. The answer is a ‘no’ from the perspective of direct causation, though ostensibly a ‘yes’ when biological, psychological, and social (also known as biopsychosocial) aspects are considered jointly.

Biopsychosocial

Biology - This can include genetics, genetic influences, injuries, nutrition, hormones, brain chemistry, and a person’s gender.

Psychological – This includes how people think, and how positive or negative perspective affects people’s psychological processes.

Social – Environmental stress, and exhibiting learned behaviors that can manifest in mental health instability.

Research has revealed that not every child that experienced unhealthy family relationships became mentally ill, or practiced the same dysfunctional behaviors as adults, but this resilience is more of a mystery to researchers than those that did. The newest forms of diagnosis and treatment, utilizing the archetype of all determining influences, show that everything is important. People take their cues in early development from parents or their closest caregivers, because that is all they know, so how parents interact with one another or others in the family provides each person with their first lessons in socialization, resolving conflict, and using calm and reasonable psychological processes as a standard. Considering the very real possibility that adult behaviors will have any effect in children’s lifelong development, parents and caregivers need to recognize what they can do to minimize living situations in which children become victims that cannot walk away from the problems happening around them.

Circumstances linked to dysfunctional family:

Abusive parents, caregivers, siblings – This is often linked to a history of abuse for parents or others which is now being perpetrated in a child’s life through verbal, physical, sexual or emotional abusive actions.

Addiction or substance abuse – Unpredictable and insecure living for children because one or more parents has unresolved substance abuse issues. Neglect and child abuse are common, and these offspring have a more significant chance of repeating the cycle of abuse themselves.

Emotionally unavailable – In families with more than one child, the older siblings end up taking care of the others because the parent or parents are detached, and may be emotionally (and physically) absent.

Fulfillment expectation – Parents may expect children to be their friend, listen to their problems, be overly intimate with sharing if they are not connected to other adults, and think their children are there to breach the gap.

Strict, overprotective, dominant – Children are not allowed to grow into making any of their own decisions, and remain exclusively dependent on their parents.

Downline of dysfunction – Parents that grew up in homes that were dysfunctional often carry on the same with their own families.

Lack of discipline or guidelines – Parents that do not have rules, or behave indifferently towards their children.

Undiagnosed parental mental illness, or untreated – Personality disorders may be treated with psychotherapy, and sometimes medication, but without proper treatment, children can be impacted by their parent’s actions as a result of the illness.

Life events – This can include deaths, marital problems, divorce (or separation), unemployment, relocation.

Other factors – Financial instability, political, religious, cultural or ethnic topics. Family codes or values. Any of these can directly or indirectly cause neglect, inequal treatment, or abuse.

These descriptions only include psychological and social considerations. When you include the biological, it would be a lot for an adult to deal with, but for a developing child, the absence of supportive structure can be devastating. The duration and severity of negative environment can prevent children from cultivating the processes they need to heal, recover, and reach their potential to have a life free of mental disorders.

Early childhood can have a lasting result, and children’s health, mental and otherwise, is linked to the support structure in which they live. The root cause of a child’s mental disorder may not primarily be due to unhealthy family relationship. That can be evaluated by qualified, licensed clinicians, to rule out physiological conditions such as genetics, injury or nutrition, etc. Psychologists, on the other hand, will look for developmental points by which children should have completed certain things, to understand if they are not reaching those milestones for reasons other than physical.

Young adults and children with mental illness are more prone to discipline problems that carry over into adulthood, and poor achievement in regards to education. They are more likely to engage in promiscuous sexual behavior, use drugs and alcohol, and subsequently become young parents. They can experience depression, anxiety, or suicidal urges or attempts.

Children need positive family support. Study indicates that the children in those families with mental instability can be resilient and do well when the parents maintain the focus of healthy parenting.

Psychiatric problems can be aggravated by relationships and environment, but are not caused by them. The family can play a pivotal role in the recovery of positive mental health for a child, and this is something within our power to ameliorate the disparaging effects of childhood mental health disorders.

anxietydepressiondisorderfamilypanic attacksptsdsupporttherapytraumapersonality disorder
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