Protect Children by Healing Yourself

Children of bipolar parent need special care and attention. During childhood, the parents’ physical and mental health, environment, and nutrition are the key factors to play a role in the whole life span of a person. Children of parents with bipolar disorders really suffer. These factors not only define the physical health of a growing kid but also his mental health. These factors start even before birth when a baby is growing in the womb of his mother. Some physical and mental diseases are transmitted directly to a child, while other disorders affect him during the growing phase.

Children grow very rapidly and show a very abrupt and aggressive reaction to any incident happening around them. Hence, their physical and mental growth exhibits the effect of any positive or negative situation. A child’s growth is affected by the direct incidents happening with him and other incidents happening in his environment. It simply means that a child’s surrounding environment also directly reflects its impact on his physical and mental growth.

A child is a clear picture of his parents and their inheritance. It can also be said that children are like mirrors; they show what they see. They should be provided with a stable, safe, and healthy environment. This environment consists of parents and other family members. But what if your parents are suffering from the bipolar disorders? Children of bipolar parents indeed face various psychological issues.

Some physical and mental health disorders result in bad moods and so disturb family life. People suffering from some mental illness may get angry suddenly and shout at every minor incident. Such people are unable to justify a situation as either positive or negative. Their brain fails to categorize the events and happenings as good or bad. Hence, they do not give appropriate responses according to the situation. Such people are found often getting angry even on positive incidents. This type of behavior causes a stressed family environment. A child’s growth is challenged in these cases. A day’s bipolar disorder is one of the most occurring mental disorders in humans and causing maximum mental health damages. Children of such bipolar parents face many mental issues as a result.

What Is Bipolar Disorder?

Our central nervous system comprises billions of neurons, building blocks of the central nervous system. When we face any incident (no matter if it is good or bad), the brain releases different chemicals to communicate within these neurons. These chemicals are released in a precise amount and pattern. This balance of chemicals may get disturbed due to any unwanted and unnecessary change in our typical environment. Such incidents may imbalance the central nervous system and can cause serious mental health issues. One of these conditions is named bipolar disorder or manic depression. People who have bipolar disorder may go through one or more of the following condition:

  • Rapid and unexpected changes in mood
  • Sudden anger over small incidents
  • Overthinking
  • Depression 
  • Decreasing energy levels
  • Decreased activity
  • Lack of concentration
  • Lack of ability to deal with daily life issues
  • Sudden changes in behavior
  • Ready to get angry
  • Always feeling tired and may feel aches in different body parts
  • Desperate thoughts that may lead to suicide
  • Alcohol addiction
  • Smoking 
  • Addiction to abusive drugs
  • Lack of responsibility

Reaction of Children to Instability

Children exhibit the effects of parents suffering from bipolar disorder. Children’s mental, emotional and physical health is quite abnormal compared to having normal and healthy parents. They may show one or more of the following problems:

Lack of Presence

  • The presence of parents is an amazing remedy for children. Parents should give their children time, listen to their issues, make jokes with them and have long conversations. This acts as a great source to live a healthy life. Parents should involve in sports activities with their children. However, children of bipolar parents do not get the required attention of their parents.
  • Mother milk is the best and first food for the newborn baby. If a mother is suffering from some mental illness especially bipolar disorder then she the children of such mothers will not be able to get the nutrition they needed. It will result in malnutrition and abnormal growth of children. Children of bipolar parents stay malnourished. Continued improper nutrition may lead to some temporary or even permanent disability.
  • Depressed mood, irritable behavior, and excessive anger act as a barrier between children and their parents. In such situations, parents and children avoid each other. Hence the children of bipolar parents do not share their problems with their parents.
  • Children of bipolar parents may feel fear from different things. They often develop a fear of different types like fear from dark, fear from height, etc.

Depression

  • Every parent wants to treat their children with love, affection, and care. But it is impossible for mentally unhealthy parents. They often treat children with anger and unstable mood. Willingly or unwillingly, but it happens in most cases and results in varying moods of the children. It is observed that children bipolar parents show inappropriate emotions depicting their parental illness. This situation is also thought to be genetic.
  • The unstable emotional condition of a mentally ill person often leads to unemployment, and this causes financial problems. Such parents cannot adequately fulfill their children’s financial needs. So children of bipolar parents suffer from lack of necessities like good food, clothing, medical facilities, education, and sports, etc. 

Racing thoughts

  • Racing thoughts is an essential sign of bipolar disorder. In this situation, a person feels difficulty calming his mind. People with this issue are unable to focus at appoint. Their brain is unable to process the received information and interpret to take necessary actions. Children seek mental stability from their parents. If a parent is suffering from some type of mental bipolarity then the children will be unable to stay organized, he or she cannot give proper care to their children. They push their child away without giving them a proper track for the whole upcoming life. So the children of bipolar parents seek the negative ways to get the life experiences

Among all the factors and facilities required for a child to grow normally, parents play the most important role in a child’s life. This is because they are responsible for their growth. Ensuring the mental and physical health of the children is the primary responsibility of the parents. This can be achieved by giving support, promoting healthy behavior, and consistent encouragement. Sadly the children of bipolar parents lack all these blessings

Children face ubiquitous threats. The first threat is indeed from the parents. They suffering from different mental health illnesses, especially bipolar disorder, are considered a significant risk for their children’s physical and psychological health. Some research studies have shown that bipolar disorder is also transferred genetically from the parents to their children. Different studies also reported that children with a parent or sibling suffering from bipolar disorder have an increased chance of developing the same disorders in themselves. This point’s logic is that continuous dealing with mentally ill persons may cause abrupt mood changes and increased anger levels. Children of bipolar parents lack a healthy family environment. Their rude behavior, sudden changes in mood, and addictive habits strongly disturb the next generation. Children growing in such a stressful family environment cannot live a healthy lifestyle. As a result of these issues, children’s physical and mental health is disturbed and leads to temporary or permanent mental illness, as found in different surveys.

Basic Needs of a Child

Every child needs some basic things and facilities to grow appropriately and healthy with every aspect. These necessities are enlisted below:

  1.  Every kid (and even a mature person) wants to feel safe with his basic needs (shelter, food, medical, etc.) for survival. Children of bipolar parents lack this sense of security.
  2.  This term depicts the family environment. if the leader of the house himself is unstable with his emotions due to bipolarity, then the overall stability of the living place gets disturbed.
  3.  Parents must synchronize parenting to ensure a consistent family environment and overcome parental mistakes.
  4.  Kids always need words of appreciation and encouragement for their small good deeds. children of bipolar parents lack this emotional support
  5.  Love is the most powerful emotion we can give to our children and overcome any parental deficiencies.
  6. Provision of quality education must be ensured for every child.
  7.  Parents must give some time to their children. Play games, make jokes, listen to their problems, and help them to solve those problems.

Help for Your Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a damaging mental health issue and causes bigger problems for your children. This mental illness disturbs personal life as well as family life and may ruin the future of the next generation. This mental disorder should be addressed on a priority basis. Day by day, evolving medical science helped us discover different ways and drugs to treat a single health issue. Modern medical science provides us following methods to treat bipolar disorder. Alcohol addiction and use of abusive are found common among people facing bipolar disorder. During a study, it was found that about 56% of people having bipolar disorder were also addicted to alcohol. Integrated treatment is a method developed to treat such situations when bipolar disorder is combined with drug addiction. Proper medication along with appropriate counseling is provided to treat the illness. The other method is the therapeutic approach. Therapeutic approaches are categorized as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). These methods are scientifically proven to be helpful in regulating emotions. They also help to avoid dramatic mood changes. If you are also a parent with bipolar disorder then do give us a ring at our phone number for the welfare of your future generations. If you don’t want your children to be ranked in the category of children of bipolar parent, Call us at at 844-767-9989