How to Help Your Adult Child With Mental Health Issues
And how to help yourself.
My daughter has Bipolar Disorder.
My son is addicted to cannabis.
My socially anxious son won’t come out of his room.
Our youngest has an eating disorder.
My daughter has extreme anger issues.
My transitioning child is depressed.
My daughter is an alcoholic.
My depressed 30-year-old son won’t/can’t leave home.
These are just a few of the lines I’ve heard in my psychology practice over the years. There are many, many more.
And with them has come a whole lot of angst, worry, frustration, often tears, from parents exhausted by their children’s struggles.
It’s not the kind of work I’ve sought. It’s just — I think — that parents, in their confusion and desperation, are realising it’s okay to seek help for themselves.
But This Is Not How It Was Meant To Go
Having a child with a mental illness challenges your perception of the future you foresaw for you, your child or your family. It also challenges your view of who you are as a parent — even a person — because in raising an unwell child…
