Mental health articles

Children may believe that their mentally ill parent’s view is correct even though they recognise it as different from others’ beliefs. This is not a culture specific issue; however, in families which have more recently settled in a new country, it can be more prominent because of a child’s strong attachment to his or her family’s beliefs in the face of an unfamiliar environment. An example involved a single mother from a rural Philippines background who told her primary school-aged children that their school lunch would be poisoned as a form of spiritual retribution, so that they kept their lunch boxeshidden at all times: her children knew other children did not have such concerns, but thought nonetheless that their mother’s view was accurate.

Tags: children, mental ill, parents