I was grocery shopping in a supermarket when I saw a mother and her teenage daughter yelling at each other. It struck me because both of them looked extremely upset but then I mumbled, “Teenage angst” and continued my shopping. Yet, while I was shopping I continued thinking about them.

We live in a society where children tend to disagree with what their parents believe is best for them as a result of the generational differences. While venting to their friends, most people have said something along the lines of, “My parents are insane!” Surely most children say that as a way to describe their parents’ thinking as irrational but, what about the children who actually have a legit mental disorder parents? The children of parents with schizophrenia.

Not much is said about them unless it is the most severe mental disorders that have encouraged mass family murders. How does a family function if at least one parent has schizophrenia? It is one of those issues that people tend to turn the other cheek to because it is not society’s version of urgent. However, this is an issue that can no longer be ignored. Mental disorders, in children of parents with schizophrenia , are preventable if doctors helped the entire family cope with the disorder and not just the mentally-ill patient.

Definition

Schizophrenia is described as a “severe mental disorder which has a considerable impact on families.” Schizophrenia consists of hallucinations, delusions, and a distorted perceptions of reality. It causes people to be incredibly irritable, overly sensitive to criticism, socially detached, seemingly without emotions.

It also causes people to be very suspicious, discouraged, extremely anxious, and conversational with themselves (Osman). People with schizophrenia typically cannot be cured but have to be treated for life. In many cases, getting treatment earlier makes it easier to maintain.

Living With Someone With Schizophrenia

The discovery of the problem starts with the marriage life of people schizophrenia. A man’s testimony stated that prior to marriage most spouses do not know that they have signed up for a lifetime with a person who has an emerging mental disorder (Schizophrenia.com). These things would not normally pop up in someone’s head agreeing with “….in sickness and in health.”

Schizophrenia does not usually affect people until the middle to late twenties. Signs of the disorder are usually completely nonexistent until after the first child is born. The most common issues in these marriages include accusations of infidelity, and invasion of privacy which lead to wanting to file for divorce. These marriages have been described as a “constant battle ground.”

The person with schizophrenia may become incredibly paranoid and strongly convinced that their spouse is cheating on them (Kingham and Gordon). They tend to not realize that they are ill and ultimately stop taking medications without medical supervision. This also produces a roller coaster effect in marriages. This is because all is well when starting medication but then gets worse when the patient intentionally stops taking it, which usually goes unnoticed for a quite a while (Mr Mans Wife).

And the Children of Parents with Schizophrenia?

In the midst of all this chaos in the marriage, the children are also having a hard time handling living with a parent with schizophrenia. If the child is growing up exposed to this as a “normal” environment then they must face many personal issues themselves. Children of parents with schizophrenia often develop behavioral issues and are especially prone to depression.

This is potentially because the children have trouble with stress and anxiety management as a result of watching their parent react to stress and anxiety. These children also show evidence of memory deficit and tend to have lower grades (“WebJCT”). They are typically socially isolated and socially awkward.

On an internet forum called Depression Forums, there was a topic titled “I’m hoping to meet some other people who have a parent with paranoid schizophrenia” and it got a multitude of responses. From reading most of them it seems like the relationship between the child and their ill parent is rarely a “good” one. Most of the posts have to do with how they grew up enduring bullying and living in an overall negative environment.

These sons and daughters also experienced hypocrisy and carried the burden of constant guilt as a result of always being blamed even if it is not their fault. They wrote about how this confused them because they always got in trouble even if they were good. And this confuses their mental assignment of good and bad which affects their behavior (“Depression Forums”).

Another source was a vivid, seven-page testimony titled “How I Survived My Teen Years & Came to Terms with Her Illness” by a woman named Heather (this post is no longer available on the internet, if it resurfaces please let us know so we can cite it) who grew up with a mother with schizophrenia. Heather’s testimony was very detailed and she started from her very first memories and ended with her adulthood experiences.

She witnessed her parents fighting everyday and she was always subject to her mother’s verbal abuse. Her father eventually divorced her mother and as her mom became promiscuous, she always accused her daughter of being promiscuous as well. Heather grew up with low self-esteem and was lead to believe that she was a terrible person when in fact, she was not. She became really depressed and developed self-harming behaviors to cope with the way her mother treated her. The part that struck me the most is when Heather said that she even started to exhibit characteristics of her mother’s schizophrenia as well, but why?

Some may argue that children of parents with schizophrenia are the same as children with normal parents, and that they just have different obstacles to overcome. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Children of parents with schizophrenia also tend to have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. The percentages I came across actually surprised me because I did not think it could be so influential.

Children who have only one parent with schizophrenia have a ten percent more chance of developing schizophrenia or any other psychiatric condition compared to children with “normal” parents. Children of two parent with schizophrenia have a 28 percent more chance of developing schizophrenia or any other psychiatric condition compared to children with “normal” parents (“Schizophrenia.com”). What could be the explanation behind these significant results?

Nature verses nurture is a legendary subject matter in psychology. When applied to the cause of schizophrenia the answer is definitely both nature and nurture. Schizophrenia can be hereditary and so can the disposition to schizophrenia. For disposition, the environment promotes the onset of schizophrenia because parents with schizophrenia can inadvertently cause the life of their child to be stressful. This is potentially because children are not able to learn the “correct” way to react in a situation.

In a case where eight children of parents with schizophrenia were studied, four children grew up with their biological parents and the other four grew up with a foster parent. Three out of four of the children who grew up with their biological parents showed clear signs of an emotional disorder, while all the children who were left with foster parents showed none (SOBEL M.D.). Although this was a small sample size, it only means that there needs to me more studies to confirm this.

So ultimately, if the children are affected so much why are parents with schizophrenia allowed to raise their children without help for their child? It almost seems as though there is not any concern about the significance of all these test results and personal testimonies. There is still not sufficient data on children who have parents with schizophrenia therefore, much is not being done. While family counseling is available, it is almost never presented to the parent with schizophrenia. The focus is usually medication management to minimize symptoms. As research rears more evidence, society will see the urgency; something needs to be done to help these children.

Help Available

While there is currently limited resources for children of parents with schizophrenia, Emma Didbin says two good sources are the Teen Line where teenagers can call in for support and National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI).

Works Cited

D., Emma. “Navigating Life with a Schizophrenic Mother.” Associated Content. N.p., 27 June 2022. Web. <https://psychcentral.com/schizophrenia/schizophrenic-mother>. 

Osman, C.B., et al. “Depressive disorders and family functioning among the caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.” East Asian Archives of Psychiatry 20.3 (2010): 101+. Psychology Collection. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.

“Schizophrenia.com.” Schizophrenia.com. N.p., 2004. Web. 12 Oct 2010. <http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/FAQoffspring.htm>.

“Potential Causes of Schizophrenia: Nature vs. Nurture.” WebJCT. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct 2010. <http://webjct.com/psychology/2.html>.

“Lance, Schozophrenia.com, paranoid schizophrenia – Schizophrenia support; marriage story from a spouse’s perspective.” schizophrenia.com. N.p., 2009. Web. 06 Oct 2010. <http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/marriage2.htm>.

“Children of Schizophrenia Parents – The Depression Forums – A Depression & Mental Health Social Community Support Group.” Depression Forums. N.p., 23 Nov 2009. Web. 03 Oct2010. <http://www.depressionforums.org/forums/topic/40393-children-of-schizophrenic-parents/>. – This link is no longer available

Kingham and Gordon, Michael and Harvey. “Aspects of morbid jealousy.” Advances in Psychiatrict Treatment. The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2004. Web. 07 Oct 2010. <http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/10/3/207>.

Mr Mans Wife, . “Why Do People Stop Taking Medication?.” The Wife of a Schizophrenic. Blogspot, 02 Feb 2009. Web. 28 Oct 2010. <http://the-wife-of-a-schizophrenic.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-do-people-stop-taking-medication.html>.

SOBEL M.D., DAVID E. “CHILDREN OF SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS : PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON EARLY DEVELOPMENT .” The American Journal of Psychiatry. Am J Psychiatry, Dec 1961. Web. 24 Oct 2010. <http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/6/512>.