What do children know about their parent’s mental illness? A systematic review of international literature on children in families with mental illness

Research shows that children whose parents have mental illness are an “invisible” or “hidden” population because their voices are not heard and mental health systems often do not know how to respond to their needs. Meanwhile, many of these children are at an increased risk of poor outcomes such as low academic performance, poor social relationships and poor mental health. Evidence indicates that these children have a chance of overcoming adversities when they understand their parent’s mental illness, its impact and how to deal with stressful situations. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to examine children’s knowledge regarding parental mental illness. A search through online databases including Sociological Abstracts, Scopus, PsycINFO, MEDLINE and CINAHL yielded 15 studies after going through screening procedures. Results of the study were generated through thematic analysis procedures. A major finding across the studies is that children do not have an adequate understanding of what goes on with their parent’s mental illness. This often leads to confusion, anxiety, fear, guilt, isolation and frustration. Consequently, there was a general consensus among children and professionals regarding the need for children to be informed about parental mental illness, albeit with a few reservations from parents on the matter. What seems to be lacking is specific information that could be appropriate for children owing to their unique circumstances when there is parental mental illness. Professionals should synchronize their services to the needs of these children by first giving voices to the child.