Parenting A Child with Mental Illness is Highly Stressful: HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• The Pain and Stress of Parenting A Child with Mental Illness
• Mental Health Experiences
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat
• Living with Serious, Down in the Dumps, Long Time, Life-Threatening Depression
• How To Support an Adult Loved One with a Mental Illness

The Pain and Stress of Parenting A Child with Mental Illness

I want to bring your attention to a large group of mental health heroes: PARENTS; specifically parents of children with a mental illness. It is a monumental job caring for a child with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ocd, depression or any serious mental illness. Not only are there the normal family, job and childcare tasks, now add in continually educating yourself about the illness and treatments, constant doctor visits, calls to and from school, behavior problems to deal with on an almost daily basis, and the list goes on. And I want to add an important thing here: most of these parents fight the battle alone - against family members who call them lousy parents, doctors who tell them they're exaggerating symptoms and behaviors, school officials who want "that kid" out of "their school," and friends/family/the general public who are outraged upon discovering the child is receiving psychiatric medications.

One representative of this group of mental health heroes is our own Angela McClanahan, author of the award-winning "Life with Bob" blog on HealthyPlace.com and mother to a 10 year old son with bipolar disorder and ADHD. A week or so ago, Angela wrote this piece on what feels like a no-win situation: Child’s Mental Illness Can Make Your Marriage Sick, Too. Please take a moment to read that article and listen to the accompanying audio towards the bottom of the page.

There are two comments on the page. What is not represented are the 23 emails we received from parents who, to varying degrees, find themselves dealing with the same or similar issues as Angela. I promise you that each one of those emails would bring tears to your eyes and hearts.

I'm a good parent. These parents trying to do the very best they can for their child under difficult and for most, way less than optimum circumstances, are heroes.

More Standout "Life with Bob" Articles

• Blame Me For My Son’s Bipolar Treatment? Yes, Please.
• Mentally Ill Child and Siblings Can Spread a Parent Thin
• Can You Afford Mental Illness?
• We’re Not Trying to Drug Our Mentally Ill Kids Into Submission (video)
• Raising Child with Mental Illness Requires Flexibility
• Life with Bob: A Blog About Parenting A Child with a Mental Illness (homepage)

You can find all of Angela's articles broken into topic categories or by date along the left side of the page. If you're a parent of a child with mental illness, maybe feeling alone in your struggles, read them. I know you'll relate.

Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences with any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. How to Create an Emotional Bond with Your Child
2. Dear Daddy, I'm Crazy: Confessions From a New Bipolar
3. Bullying in the Workplace

If you're not already, I hope you'll join us/like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

A warm welcome to our new blogger, Deltra Coyne, author of the "Relationships and Mental Illness" blog. She'll be talking about all sorts of relationships. Here, I'll let her tell you about the blog.

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Dear Daddy, I'm Crazy: Confessions From a New Bipolar (Relationships and Mental Illness Blog)
• Families as Caretakers of Adult Mentally Ill: Helpful or Harmful? (Mental Illness in the Family Blog)
• Depression as a Working Diagnosis (Depression Diaries Blog)
• Mental Illness: Why Can't We Laugh About It? (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• How Will I Know It's Time to Leave My Abuser? (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• Amy Winehouse, Anxiety and Grief (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• The Cold and Distant Mother and Other Eating Disorder Myths (Video) (Surviving ED Blog)
• For Parents of Mentally Ill Kids, Acceptance a Bitter Pill to Swallow (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• Amy Winehouse: Death and Addiction (Debunking Addiction Blog)
• Self-Injury: Borderline Personality Disorder's Poorly Kept Secret (More Than Borderline Blog)
• Why Normalize Dissociation? (Dissociative Living Blog)
• Conquer Verbal Abuse
• Should the FDA Consider ECT Machines Less Dangerous?
• Mental Illness Recovery Support: Doing it Right
• Weight Stigma: An Enduring Prejudice
• Video: When Should Parents Allow Child's Input on Psychiatric Medication?
• About Deltra Coyne, Author of Relationships and Mental Illness Blog
• Bipolar in the Workplace: Clutter or No Clutter

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat

On our New Member Introductions Forum, azriel7878 says: "I have a son with Bipolar Disorder, ODD and possibly ASD. In the past 6 months, his mood and behavior have become well, out of control. I am in danger of losing our house, my car and my bills are all behind. My therapist accused me of either having an eating disorder or being on drugs. I felt completely betrayed. How do I cope with being completely overwhelmed?" Sign into the forums and share your thoughts and comments.

Join us on the HealthyPlace Mental Health Forums and Chat

You must be a registered HealthyPlace member. If you aren't already, it's free and takes less than 30 seconds. Just click the "register button" at the top of the page.

At the bottom of the forums page, you'll notice a chat bar (similar to facebook). You can chat with any registered member on the forums site.

We hope you'll be a frequent participant and share our support link with others who may benefit.

Living with Serious, Down in the Dumps, Long Time, Life-Threatening Depression on HealthyPlace TV

Amy Kiel's struggle with major depression has spanned 20 years. It started when she was 16 years old. Over time, the author of the "Depression Diaries" blog on HealthyPlace.com survived two suicide attempts, tried multiple depression treatments, has been through two marriages and says her depression has also been tough on her young children. It's been a difficult life, but Amy has learned a lot along the way. Watch this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. (Surviving a Long-Lasting Battle with Severe Depression - TV Show blog)

Other Recent HPTV Shows

• Publicly Living with a Mental Illness
• Labeling and Medicating Our Mentally Ill Children
• Healing from Childhood Traumas in Midlife

Coming in August on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show

• I Didn't Recognize the Symptoms of Depression in Myself
• Relationships and Mental Illness

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share your personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

For all previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV archived shows.

How To Support an Adult Loved One with a Mental Illness on HealthyPlace Radio

Cindy Nelson has a sister with a serious mental illness, Schizophrenia. She says it's a delicate balance between being a caregiver and a sister. That's on this edition of the HealthyPlace Mental Health Radio Show. Listen to How To Support an Adult Loved One with Mental Illness.

Other Recent HealthyPlace Radio Shows

• Food Addiction: The Link to Childhood Obesity. Our guest maintains food addiction is one of the leading causes behind childhood obesity. Dr. Robert Pretlow is founder and director of Weigh2Rock.com, an online weight loss system for teens and preteens used by clinics, hospitals and other institutions. Dr. Pretlow addresses the problem and provides solutions
• From Life of the Party to Get a Life. Stephanie used to enjoy life. There were lunches and parties with friends. Going shopping. Doing fun things. Then she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. And her social life came to a rip roaring halt. We discuss why the big change and what her life is like today

If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week,

• follow HealthyPlace on Twitter or become a fan of HealthyPlace on Facebook.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index