Parental psychiatric illness: the implications for children

Purpose of review In the UK recent guidance from the Department of Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists has stressed the need for patients who are also parents to be recognized and offered appropriate services. There is now extensive literature on the links between parental mental illness and adverse outcomes for children. Adverse outcomes include not only psychiatric disorders, but also cognitive, emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. This review considers recent contributions of relevance to clinicians, researchers and policymakers. Recent findings In addition to continuing work describing the links between specific parental mental illness and problems for children, recent research has focused more on possible mechanisms to explain these findings. In the past year some outstanding papers on parenting styles and the contribution of fathers have been published. Summary Despite a large evidence base we need further research to clarify the ways in which parental mental illness impacts on children, specific risk (and protective factors) and the role of fathers. We need to know more about the reciprocal relationship between parents and children. As yet we have little specific information from the child's perspective: perception of their parent's illness, what helps them to cope and the services which would make a difference.