This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Altschuler, J. Articles by Dale, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Altschuler, J. Articles by Dale, B. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

On Being an Ill Parent

The Tavistock Clinic, London

Barbara Dale

The Tavistock Clinic, London

Limited research and clinical attention has been paid to the experience of being an ill parent, so that parents are given little support in preparing for the effect their illness might have on their children. In this article, we explore how parents manage being a patient and a parent at the same time, focusing on three themes which have emerged: parental fears that illness renders them less fit to meet the needs of their children; dilemmas about balancing self-care with the care of others; and how the illness can evoke feelings that relate to previous trauma, influencing their responses to their children in the present. We highlight how these issues do not happen in isolation, but in the context of ongoing intimate, family relationships. We suggest that if they are not addressed, parents and children are left unprepared to meet the demands which illness poses. Finally, we examine the implications for clinical work in this area.

Key Words: children • gender • illness • parent • trauma

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 4, No. 1, 23-37 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/1359104599004001003


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. A. Murphy HIV-positive Mothers' Disclosure of Their Serostatus to Their Young Children: A Review Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, January 1, 2008; 13(1): 105 - 122. [Abstract] [PDF]

				F. Schmitt, H. Manninen, P. Santalahti, E. Savonlahti, S. Pyrhonen, G. Romer, and J. Piha Children of Parents with Cancer: A Collaborative Project Between a Child Psychiatry Clinic and an Adult Oncology Clinic Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, July 1, 2007; 12(3): 421 - 436. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Pollet, M. Bamforth, and G. Collins Adult psychotherapy and child and family psychiatry: Ten years of working together for parents and infants Psychiatr. Bull., April 1, 2000; 24(4): 139 - 141. [Abstract] [Full Text]