Christiansen Hanna, Anding Jana, Schrott Bastian, Röhrle Bernd
Department of Psychology, Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg Marburg, Germany.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg Marburg, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2015 Oct 20;6:1494. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01494. eCollection 2015.
The transgenerational transmission of mental disorders is one of the most prominent risk factors for the development of psychological disorders. Children of mentally ill parents are a vulnerable high risk group with overall impaired development and high rates of psychological disorders. To date there are only a few evidence based intervention programs for this group overall and hardly any in Germany. We translated the evidence based Family Talk Intervention by Beardslee (2009) and adapted it for groups. First results of this pilot study are presented.
This investigation evaluates a preventive group intervention for children of mentally ill parents. In a quasi-experimental design three groups are compared: an intervention group (Family Talk Intervention group: n = 28), a Wait Control group (n = 9), and a control group of healthy children (n = 40). Mean age of children was 10.41 years and parental disorders were mostly depressive/affective disorders (n = 30), but a small number also presented with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (n = 7).
Children of mentally ill parents showed higher rates of internalizing/externalizing disorders before and after the intervention compared to children of parents with no disorders. Post intervention children's knowledge on mental disorders was significantly enhanced in the Family Talk Intervention group compared to the Wait Control group and the healthy control group. Parental ratings of externalizing symptoms in the children were reduced to normal levels after the intervention in the Family Talk Intervention group, but not in the Wait Control group.
This pilot study of a group intervention for children of mentally ill parents highlights the importance of psycho-education on parental mental disorders for children. Long-term effects of children's enhanced knowledge about parental psychopathology need to be explored in future studies.
精神障碍的代际传递是心理障碍发展的最突出风险因素之一。患有精神疾病的父母的子女是一个脆弱的高风险群体，其整体发育受损，心理障碍发生率高。迄今为止，总体而言，针对这一群体的循证干预项目很少，在德国几乎没有。我们翻译了比尔兹利（2009年）基于证据的家庭谈话干预方法，并对其进行了小组适应性调整。本文呈现了这项试点研究的初步结果。
本调查评估了一项针对患有精神疾病的父母的子女的预防性小组干预措施。在准实验设计中，比较了三组：一个干预组（家庭谈话干预组：n = 28）、一个等待对照组（n = 9）和一个健康儿童对照组（n = 40）。儿童的平均年龄为10.41岁，父母的疾病大多为抑郁/情感障碍（n = 30），但也有少数患有注意力缺陷多动障碍（n = 7）。
与父母没有精神疾病的儿童相比，患有精神疾病的父母的子女在干预前后内化/外化障碍的发生率更高。与等待对照组和健康对照组相比，家庭谈话干预组干预后儿童对精神障碍的认知有显著提高。家庭谈话干预组干预后，父母对孩子外化症状的评分降至正常水平，而等待对照组则没有。
这项针对患有精神疾病的父母的子女的小组干预试点研究强调了对儿童进行关于父母精神障碍的心理教育的重要性。未来的研究需要探讨儿童对父母精神病理学知识增强的长期影响。
