The three health experts from the research project Healthy Minds Ingrid Zechmeister-Koss, Inanna Reinsperger and Jean Paul write in their guest commentary about the insufficient support for parents' mental illnesses around the birth of their child.
Up to one in five mothers and one in ten fathers suffer from psychological problems such as depression or anxiety disorders during pregnancy and in the first year after birth. The AIHTA, partner organisation of the research project "Healthy Minds", found in an analysis that there is a need to catch up in prevention and care in Austria.
Tyrol has a massive need to catch up when it comes to mental health care for mothers before and after childbirth. According to estimates, 1,500 new mothers in Tyrol suffer from mental health problems every year. Tyrol is at the lower end in terms of perinatal mental health care compared to the rest of Austria.
Up to one in five women is affected by mental illness during pregnancy or in the first year after the birth of the child. Recognising and treating these at an early stage would be central. However, care in Austria is inadequate - there is a special outpatient clinic only in Vienna.
Austria is lagging behind in the care of parents with perinatal mental illnesses. Experts from the Healthy Minds research project criticise that examining the physical body alone is not enough and call for early screening through Eltern-Kind-Pass.
Joint research project between MedUni Innsbruck and Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft and other partners develops support program for affected families in Tyrol. After a successful pilot phase, sustainable continuation must now be financed.
It is estimated that one in four children grows up with a mentally ill parent - and with an increased risk of later developing a mental or physical illness themselves. Children of mentally ill parents often suffer along with them - often in silence.
Children who grow up with mentally ill parents often take on a lot of responsibility and are burdened themselves. In the "Village" project, researchers with funding from Med Uni Innsbruck and the Ludwig Boltzmann Society developed a prevention program for affected families in Tyrol. Its continuation is now at risk.
The pilot project "Village" by Med-Uni Innsbruck and the Ludwig Boltzmann society in Tyrol was successfully completed. This is a preventive program for families in which the parents suffer from a mental illness. Children in such families often take on a lot of responsibility and are sometimes burdened themselves, feeling inferior or even guilty. The project created a low-threshold prevention program for these children. Funding has not yet been obtained. Money is being sought to continue the program.
The range of health and economic impacts of parental mental illness on their offspring is broad and supports the need for targeted prevention work with family-focused intervention programs.
The radio stations Ö1 and Ö3 report in the Mittagsjournal about children of parents with a mental illness in Austria and how the village research project supports affected children and their families in Tyrol.
Click here for the Ö1 radio report.
Click here for the Ö3 radio report.
Mom or Dad is mentally ill - more than a quarter of a million children in Austria live in such a situation. Later, their risk of developing health problems or disorders themselves is significantly increased. A current project in Tyrol shows how the stress on children can be alleviated.
If parents have mental illnesses, the children also suffer. They often have to take on responsibilities for which they are still too young. An international research project offers help to such families - with very good success. A news articel about our research project.
FWF #ConnectingMinds project at the Medical University of Innsbruck - Village follow-up project
The idea for our research project came about from both personal and clinical experience, witnessing a lack and fragmentation of services for new parents experiencing a mental illness in Tyrol. A need to improve mental healthcare for new parents in hospitals and the community has been identified. We are excited to work in partnership to bring about innovative research which will have a significant social impact on the local community in Tyrol.
The Tyrolean research project "Village" is investigating how best to support children of parents with a mental illness. They are at higher risk of becoming mentally ill themselves. The aim of the "Village" project is to build a formal and informal support network around these children.
Here you can see the TV contribution from ORF Tirol Heute from 23.05.2021:
https://tvthek.orf.at/profile/Tirol-heute/70023/Tirol-heute/14093218/Hilfe-fuer-Kinder-von-psychisch-Erkrankten/14923818
Here you can find the article:
https://tirol.orf.at/stories/3104382/
Here you can find the radio report: https://radiothek.orf.at/tir/20210523/TWOE3/1621765868809
How can children of parents with mental illnesses be helped? In an interview with the magazine "Moment", Dr. Jean Paul talks about the difficulties in Tyrol. In particular, this interview highlights the obstacles and barriers faced by children of parents with mental illnesses.
How can we support children pf parents with mental illness?
While we are at the end of the second lockdown and feel restricted in our freedom, there are people who suffer even more from the missing, partly supportive, outside world.
A very interesting article by our contributor Nadja Gruber.
The Village project of the Med-Uni Innsbruck wants to focus on the perspective of children and their needs.
It takes a village to raise a child. So goes an African saying. Many people have a stake - sometimes unconsciously - in how children grow up in their environment. Fostering these relationships with relatives, neighbors, friends, teachers, etc. is an essential part of "Village". The research project is dedicated to children, one of whose parents is mentally ill.
The Medical Tribune reports on what we found out about the initial situation in Tyrol, how we develop new practical approaches in workshops together with stakeholders – and how we want to create and measure improvements for children with parents having a mental illness.
A short feature about our project with a field experience report by highly dedicated Lisa Kainzbauer. Keywords: involving the child and asking about its needs; breaking the vicious circle in which the danger of developing a mental illness is passed on over generations; creating a network that "catches" the child.
”The project is so exciting because we are working together in an international and interdisciplinary team towards a common goal: We want to identify children of mentally ill parents as early as possible, understand their experiences and support them in the best possible way.” – Jean Paul, head of the ”Village” project in an interview with MED•INN – the campus magazine of the Medical University of Innsbruck.
Support.
For a long time forgotten, now in the foreground: children of parents with a mental illness
Jean Paul from Australia came to Innsbruck to lead an international project there. The aim is to find measures that help children of mentally ill parents.
Dr. Melinda Goodyear (Research Fellow and MIRF Project Manager, Monash
University) & Dr. Jean Paul (Principal investigator of the village project at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute and the Medical University of Innsbruck) share insights into the research collected in this area in the Best Practice/Next Practice Forum: Working with Families where a Parent has a Mental Illness.
"It takes a village to raise a child." The African proverb has been taken to heart by the Village research group built around the Australian expert in child and youth health, Jean Paul. The scientists at the medical university and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute are developing measures to help children of parents with a mental illness. These are particularly at risk later in life to be mentally or physically ill. The methods are developed together with care facilities, schools and children themselves.
Innovation Magazin Tirol, 1/2018
The public tells science what to research - a crazy idea? The Ludwig Boltzmann Society is currently making good experiences with 'crowdsourcing' of research questions and other methods of participation. An interview with project manager Benjamin Missbach and social scientist Jean Paul.
The Medical University Innsbruck is supporting the project "Village" to raise society's awareness towards the needs of affected persons.
Based on an initiative of the Ludwig Boltzmann Association, an interdisciplinary team of scientists wants to equip the model region Tyrol as "the village" with the necessary know-how to provide children of parents with a mental illness with the help they need in their often difficult everyday life.
The article in the print edition of the Dolomites gives a brief insight into our research project.
The international research group Village explores how children and adolescents of mentally ill parents are treated. Tyrol should act as a model region here.
Around a quarter of all children grow up in families where one parent is mentally ill. The risk of becoming mentally ill later on is high. In Tyrol, the village communities will now be used in a new research project to help these children.
An estimated quarter of all children grow up in families where one parent is mentally ill. For the children, this often means an unbelievable burden, an enormous pressure. The risk of becoming mentally ill later on is high. How can we help these children, how can we support them? At the Medical University of Innsbruck, in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann Association, an international research group has been set up to develop suitable measures.