GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Mar 9, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A parent's depression
results in a child's increased household and caregiving responsibilities and a
feeling of loneliness, researchers in Sweden said.
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden
studied nine families, looking at 11 parents and 10 children and young adults
ages 5-26.
Registered Nurse Britt Hedman Ahlstrom said a family's daily life changes and
becomes more complicated when a parent is suffering from depression. The
children take responsibility for the depressed parent, siblings and themselves
when they notice that a parent cannot cope.
"The toughest burden of responsibility that children take on is ensuring that
the depressed parent doesn't commit suicide," Ahlstrom said in a statement. "So
children take on an extremely heavy responsibility by monitoring and keeping an
eye on the depressed parent."
Even if the depression goes away for a time, the family is never entirely free
from anxiety that it might return, the researchers said.
"We need a new approach within the health services, in which the focus is on the
family's own perspective when a parent is suffering from depression," Ahlstrom
said. "It's vital to be aware of the whole family's needs in terms of help and
support, and not just those of the person who is ill. It's particularly
important to be aware of the children's situation."
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