Psychotic Parents in Multi-Problem Families: A Study of Six Families in Which One Parent Is Psychotic as Taken From Brooklyn Catholic Charities Family Service, 1962
Abstract
Background of the Study. A serious illness has a damaging effect on the patient himself and creates stresses for his family. Mental illness afflicts the patient and those who are with him in a much more pronounced way, for it disables the whole person and reflects more seriously on his family. It disrupts family life and has a damaging effect upon the children. Not only does it create in them behavior problems, but as Irene Josselyn states; It is frequently pointed out that disturbed parents create a destructive emotional environment for their children. In addition, however, they also, because of the child’s identification with them, give him a pattern by which to deal with conflicting situations. This concept may throw some light on the process by which the same type of social maladjustment follows through generations in a family. Mental Illness develops slowly and for some time the patient is able to function more or less normally, until some serious stress precipitates the full development of the illness. Then it may become necessary to confine the patient to an institution. The extent of mental illness in general is unknown. It is probable that many persons suffer from it, but either it is hidden within the family, or symptoms are not visible and the patient remains in the community. It is only when his family is unable to cope with him any longer and his behavior is visibly abnormal, that the seriousness of a patient’s illness becomes apparent to everybody.
Subject Area
Social research|Mental health|Individual & family studies|Social work
Recommended Citation
Podoska, Zofja, "Psychotic Parents in Multi-Problem Families: A Study of Six Families in Which One Parent Is Psychotic as Taken From Brooklyn Catholic Charities Family Service, 1962" (1963). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30670869.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30670869
