How does mental illness affect children’s mental health? It’s been on my mind a bit lately, as I’ve seen similar negative behaviors to what my dad has shown before when I was visiting a relative’s house. It wasn’t my dad that did something, but rather one of my relatives. I didn’t like what the incident did to the two children who were there.

To put it succinctly without naming names, my relative became verbally abusive (and almost physically abusive) to the children’s cat when it bit his foot. This cat has been treated badly by the children’s two older siblings, who I’m assuming didn’t realize that cats can develop behavioral issues and continued tormenting it, making it worse. After being bitten, my relative started swearing horribly (right in front of the children and myself) and throwing things at the cat, cursing as he threw.

This traumatized the children enough, but then my relative insisted the cat would be gotten rid of. This exact same thing happened to me years ago with my dad, so I knew how those children were feeling. Seeing your father go crazy and become violent and vicious (either physically or verbally) is terrifying. I’ve witnessed it from a very young age, but I was in my late teens when my dad forced me to get rid of my cat. These two children are 11, and it took a lot of comforting and calming down, which I did my level best at. It was a bad night for all, but especially for those two children.

It isn’t necessarily common for children to fully develop a mental illness at a young age, but others’ abuse and their own struggle with mental illness can have a negative impact on a child’s growth and development.

This begs the question: How are children affected, and how young can they be affected?

It’s not such a simple answer.

A Healthy Place staff writer had this to say about children whose parent(s) has/have a mental illness:

“Children whose parents have a mental illness are at risk of developing social, emotional and/or behavioral problems. The environment in which youth grow affects their development and emotional well-being as much as their genetic makeup does… children of parents with any mental illness are at risk [for] a range of mental health problems, including mood disorders, alcoholism, and personality disorders.”

It’s a difficult thing to have a mental illness. It’s even more difficult to keep it from affecting those around you. Kids are like sponges; they soak up everything they see and hear. Since children learn a lot of their behaviors from their parents, it makes them at risk for being negatively affected by a parent’s mental illness. This is not to say that it’s the parent’s fault just for having a mental illness. However, it is a parent’s responsibility to get the help they need in order to provide as healthy an environment as possible for their child. If that means getting on medications and going to therapy, then so be it. It’s for the good of your child, as well as for your own good.

I was not quite so fortunate when I was younger. Back then, the thought of one of my parents having a mental illness never crossed my mind. It never crossed my dad’s mind either. It simply wasn’t something either side of our family was familiar with medically, and mental illness didn’t come up in conversation except in reference to “loony” relatives. Either no one knew there was mental illness in our family, or they simply refused to acknowledge it. Certain behaviors from relatives instilled in my father a sense that that was the norm. This was passed on to me. I never considered that my father’s explosions of anger could be anything but normal. He was just “moody.”

A parent with mental illness may genetically pass on certain disorders or behaviors, but a child’s environment and how they are raised can also cause them to develop other mental illnesses as well, especially when there is abuse in early childhood.

An article from Time’s website titled “How Child Abuse Primes the Brain for Future Mental Illness” points out:

“…researchers have found specific changes in key regions in and around the hippocampus in the brains of young adults who were maltreated or neglected in childhood. These changes may leave victims more vulnerable to depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)…”

Abuse, in any of its forms, can literally change your brain. The article goes on to talk about how abuse in childhood can mold a child’s brain to react to stress in a certain way because of damage to the hippocampus, as well as regions of the brain known as the subiculum and presubiculum. Basically, abuse can reduce parts of your brain that help you to deal with stress. This weakens your ability to react to stress in a positive way later on in life. The article points out that although studying abused children did not show immediate changes to the brain, other studies support the claim that deficiencies in certain brain areas will most likely occur later on, most likely during puberty.

Whatever environmental factor it may be that causes a child’s mental illness, it’s important for parents to be educated on what they can do to help. Healthy Place has provided a helpful guide for parents that includes tips on how parents can put protective factors in place. Increasing your child’s resilience by creating a positive environment can greatly reduce their chances of developing a mental illness later on.

I sometimes wonder if changing parts of my childhood would have helped me avoid my current diagnoses. Maybe I wouldn’t have developed the disorders I have. It’s a moot point, as I don’t have a time machine, so I try and take the things I experienced in childhood and adolescence and learn from them. Although there are several things about my past that I wish I hadn’t gone through, those experiences are helping me to better understand the world of mental illness and provide educated advice for others who are suffering.

It’s a trade-off, but it’s a useful one. I’m one of the lucky ones that found the strength to work through my problems in an effort to lead a better life. Some aren’t so lucky, though. When we are better informed about the effects our actions have on those around us, especially children, we can take steps to prevent damage from occurring. Hopefully, as we become better educated, we can reduce the number of mental illnesses developed in early childhood.