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Children's needs when their mothers are admitted to psychiatric units

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Leonor Montoliu Tamarit  and
A. Yin-Har Lau
Leonor Montoliu Tamarit*
Affiliation:
Redbridge Health Care Trust Child and Adolescent Mental Health Directorate, Loxford Hall Loxford Lane, Ilford, Essex IG1 2PL
A. Yin-Har Lau
Affiliation:
Redbridge Health Care Trust Child and Adolescent Mental Health Directorate, Loxford Hall Loxford Lane, Ilford, Essex IG1 2PL
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and methods

Due to a concern over the low level of referrals of children to the child and adolescent psychiatry team, an audit was designed to investigate the possible causes. An audit was undertaken in which the case notes of 100 consecutive adult female admissions to acute wards in Goodmayes Hospital were screened. The case notes were screened for mention of children, any actions taken on their behalf, in addition to a number of demographic and social factors.

Results

The findings of the audit indicate that children of psychiatrically ill mothers do not receive the attention they need, as indicated by the literature on the topic.

Implications

More detailed case history-taking by the parent's psychiatrist and closer cooperation between adult and child psychiatry departments are suggested as two methods of addressing this need.

Type
Original papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , April 1999 , pp. 214 - 217
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Goodman, S. H. & Isaacs, L. D. (1984) Primary prevention with children of seriously disturbed mothers. Journal of Preventative Psychiatry, 387–402.Google Scholar
Quinton, D., Rutter, M. & Gulliver, L. (1990) Continuities in psychiatric disorders from childhood to adulthood in the children of psychiatric patients. In Straight and Devious Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood (eds Robins, L. & Rutter, M.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Quinton, D. (1984) Parental psychiatric disorder: effects on children. Psychological Medicine, 14, 853–880.Google Scholar
Vanharen, J., LaRoche, C. & Heyman, M. (1993) Have the invisible children become visible? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 678–680.Google Scholar
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