To what extent do therapists in adult psychiatry involve the children of mentally ill patients?

摘要

The aim and scope of this study was to examine to what extent the mentally ills’ therapistsinvolve children. Nine therapists from the psychiatric policlinic at the hospital in Namsos,Norway were interviewed. The selection of interviewees was done in order to ensurerepresentation across the complete range of professions involved. An interview guideconsisting of 12 pertinent questions was developed and employed. The results show that theinformants claimed there were no known procedures for exploring the children’s situation. Allof the therapists reported that the sick parent(s) had brought up their personal concerns fortheir children in the course of treatment. Five of the informants confirmed that they had attimes invited the children to participate in conversations with their parents. Only two of thesehad done this more than once. The explanation for why children are so seldom involved canbe stringent environmental control factors, uncertainties, fear of generated increasedworkload, or of undertaking a more complex treatment process. Perhaps treatment in adultpsychiatry is primarily focused on the mentally ill target person alone. It seems that it’ssocially unacceptable to examine children’s circumstances in the course of treatment.