Vulnerable children of mentally ill parents: towards evidence-based support for improving resilience

The increasing prevalence of mental illness among parents always represents a stressor affecting the biopsychosocial development of a child. However, due to varying inherent resilience factors, not all children are affected to the same extent. The presence of evidencebased resilience factors is able to minimise or prevent the adverse effects associated with the parental disorder. Fostering an attachment to a healthy adult including professionals in the social field - and providing information about the disorder are regarded as two important preventive factors. The need for specific individualised intervention programmes for this group of forgotten children is highlighted, and a specific method of assessment is presented.