Everyone knows the adage: Humans are social animals. Since humans evolved from early primates, they have been part of a social hierarchy. Even the other primates’ humans are related to following a similar social structure. Monkeys, chimpanzees, and even gorillas have distinct social and family structures. Humans, therefore, are hardwired to form social bonds and live with each other as a family.
Throughout history, people and cultures have placed huge importance on families. The family unit is so important that people built entire cultures around it. But what mental stress do these relations place on the people in these families?
Mental health is a fairly broad and nuanced topic that covers various aspects. It can refer to mental stress, which is becoming quite common nowadays. It may also refer to other more serious topics such as mental disorders. People struggling with mental health issues can rely on their families for support.This article examines how a family unit can help its members manage their mental health productively.
What is a Family?
A family is the most basic unit of the human society. The Oxford Dictionary calls a group of parents and children living together, a family. This is, of course, only a textbook definition. A family is any group with whom a person feels a strong emotional connection.
Some people have a strained relationship with their parents and live away from them, but that is also considered a family. Others may not have children and lead happy and contented lives. These are all very valid and acceptable forms of families.
A person can have multiple families depending on the view point. There is the family one is born into - with parents and possibly siblings. As people grow, they may have roommates and make friends. This, too, is a kind of a family - maybe for a short duration, but a kind of family, nonetheless. As people grow and find romantic love, they can start a family of their own with their partners. So, the term ‘family’ can mean whatever a person may want it to mean.
Mental Health Issues Among Families
Family is the basic building block of society. Every individual relies on his/her family from time to time for guidance and love.
Mental health of couples
Maintaining a romantic relationship can be quite tricky. Being in a committed relationship requires people to open up on a deeply personal level. Such a level of intimacy may be challenging for some people. But it can be even harder for people with a mental disorder. There are many reasons for this.
For one, some mental disorders may make it difficult to form meaningful relations. Secondly, there is an unfortunate stigma toward mental disorders in society.
One of the most common reasons behind mental disorders is the stress of modern living. Many people struggle to maintain a balance between their personal life and work. The stress of balancing another person’s emotional needs on top of their own might be taxing. As a result, people may develop some early symptoms of mental health issues like depression or mood disorders.
But it is important to understand how to be helpful in such times. It may help to talk to one’s partner about stresses and struggles in life. Taking a break away from one’s usual surroundings can also work wonders. But if these small changes do not help, it may be time for professional intervention.
Mental health issues among parents and children
Most people indeed think parenting is a great blessing. But, becoming a parent is a huge responsibility for several reasons. A parent is responsible for how their child learns and develops. Children can pick up a lot of habits by observing and copying their parents. So, parents lead lives with dual responsibilities. But being responsible for another human being can quickly become quite stressful. It can build up quickly, especially if one is mentally under-prepared for parenthood.
Everyone wants to provide a healthy and happy home for their children. But it can be challenging, especially if one of the parents is living with a mental disorder. People struggling with depression or anxiety issues can find parenting quite difficult. Seeing their parents struggle can have a negative impact on the children. Thus, it is important to talk about mental health issues in a family and make the children understand it. The first step in managing mental disorders is to talk about them openly.
Mental disorders can be quite disruptive to a family dynamic. If these conditions are ignored, they can grow to an almost unmanageable level. In a family with children, this can have quite a disastrous impact. Parents and children need to normalize talking about these issues.
How to support parents’ mental health
There is a lot of information on the internet supporting children’s mental health needs. Everyone agrees that this is an essential aspect of parenting. Children, being young and naive, may not always be able to express their needs properly and extra care needs to be taken. But parenting can be a very challenging task too. Being a parent takes its toll on a person’s mental well-being. It is important to understand the stress of parenting and address those needs also.
Parents of newborn children mostly experience high levels of stress. It can be a huge task to provide a quality life to a child. Their energy and erratic sleep schedules can wreak havoc on parents’ mental health. Even as they grow, children can be difficult to handle. Communicating and disciplining a child can be almost impossible for some people. All these tasks are challenging enough not considering the mental health issues of the parents. It becomes a mountainous task to take care one’s as well as a child’s mental health needs.
There are mental health experts who can help parents with such problems. Psychologists who specialize in helping children can also assist parents with various issues. They can suggest mental health exercises and routines that can relieve stress as a family. Seeking help from qualified professionals can improve the parenting experience.
How To Support Children’s Mental Health
A child’s mind is a very malleable thing. Children can pick up on behavioral and other cues from their parents. A child’s family is often their first school, in a sense, and it influences their personality greatly. Seeing parents stressed and in a negative mindset influencechildren’s attitude too. In some cases, such stressful issues early in the lives can have a long-lasting impact on children.
As medical and mental health sciences advance, researchers know more about mental disorders. Research suggests that mental issues like ASD and ADHD show symptoms quite early. Modern psychological tools can predict such mental issues in children quite accurately. With such early detection, parents can be better equipped to support their children. Parents can take many steps to support their children’s special needs.
Parents can consult specialists and experts to understand their children’s behavioral issues.Talking about such mental health issues often helps children feel welcome and happy. Professional medical advice can yield the best results for children in such cases.
How Family Structures Influence a Child’s Behaviors
Strong evidence suggests that children who grow up in a beautiful family arehappier and healthier. Painful experiences like separation or divorce affect children negatively. Various researchers studying these topics have found evidence to back these claims.
The study was published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2012 and was done on 154 children admitted in a children’s behavioral center. According to the research, only 11% of these kids came from intact families. The stress of living through a separation or divorce impacted these children negatively. Children coming from single-parent homes showed more advanced symptoms of mental health issues like ADHD, etc. in the study.
All this is not to discourage people from ending unhappy relationships. But such research does caution parents about family structure. Children are naturally vulnerable to various external influences. A strong and stable family environment may be the rock they need in their lives. Parents play a huge role in providing this safe and secure household for their children.
Violence Or Abuse in Families and Its Effect
As mentioned earlier, there is deep rooted stigma against mental disorders. People living with mental health issues need help and support of their families. But there is a misconception in the society that these people are prone to violence. No evidence suggests that people with mental health issues are more violent. They are more likely to harm themselves than others. Hence, people with mental health issues look toward others for support.
However, violence and abuse in families is an unfortunate reality in society. People with or without mental health issues are capable of violent acts. Violence and abuse can take many forms. It may not even be physical harm, but that is also quite common. Abuse by one’s intimate partner can cause psychological or emotional trauma.Around 33% of women and 25% of men experience intimate partner violence.
Supporting a Family Member Dealing with Abuse
Identifying signs of abuse can be hard, almost impossible in some cases. It may be healthier to leave an abusive relationship, but here are challenges to it.Survivors fear social exclusion and retribution, if they do come out with the evidence. There may be cultural taboos that may prevent someone from walking out of an abusive family life. Abusers often apply financial and emotional stress to prevent survivors from leaving. Therefore, handling such matters and supporting survivors can be a complicated affair.
Survivors can often feel lonely or isolated due to the violence they experience. People who wish to help can start by offering love and support. It helps survivors feel more comfortable opening up about their trauma. Survivors should be encouraged to put themselves and their needs first. It helps build their confidence to stand up to the abuse. Seek professional help when handling cases of domestic abuse and involve legal experts as well.
Conclusion:
A family is the most basic social structure for humans. People often rely on their families to support and guide them through tough times. Families can play a huge role in helping people’s mental health. A healthy and open dialogue about mental health can help adults and children in a family.
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