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The parent-child relationship

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The relationship between the child and the ill parent becomes disrupted due to the child trying to achieve emotional closeness and the parent withdrawing. This results in the child bridging the gap by adapting their own mind to that of the ill parent.
In this model, we put forward the idea that the child experiences the parent’s withdrawal as rejection and that they attempt to bridge the gap by adapting their own mind to that of the ill parent.

Your thoughts

Please post your thoughts on these discussion points using the comments section.

  • Why might this be problematic?

  • Can you think of examples from your own practice where a child or young person begins to adapt their own thinking to that of their ill parent?

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How To Support Young People Living with Parental Mental Illness

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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