Interviews of psychiatric inpatients about their family situation and young children.

In this study, the perception by mentally ill parents of their family situation and young children was explored with the purpose of improving the basis for cooperation between families and professionals, when intervention is needed. Fifty consecutively admitted psychiatric inpatients with children 0–10 years old were interviewed by child psychiatrists, and their information constitutes the study material. It was generally easy to approach the patients as parents. Most of them were already preoccupied with their children's situation and seemed relieved to talk about it when guaranteed anonymity. Half of the patients experienced and described having emotional difficulties in relation to their children. Half of the 64 children were reported to suffer from physical or mental health problems, and an unexpected accumulation of children with serious and relatively rare medical conditions was registered. Most of the children had parents who had been mentally ill all their life, and many had 2 parents with mental disorders. Family discord was frequent. Many women related the debut of mental symptoms to childbirth. Attention is drawn to special patterns concerning suicidal and addicted patients.