Die subjektive Sicht von Klienten einer Beratungsstelle für Familien mit einem psychisch kranken Elternteil

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund/Ziel: Vor dem Hintergrund, dass eine psychische Erkrankung das gesamte Familiensystem belastet, wurde an einer psychiatrischen Klinik ein Beratungsangebot für Familien mit einem psychisch kranken Elternteil eingerichtet. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die subjektiven Sichtweisen der Klienten der Beratungsstelle hinsichtlich des familiären Problemhintergrundes und der Inanspruchnahme vorgestellt.

Methoden: Es wurden 14 leitfadengestützte problemzentrierte Interviews mit den Klienten der Beratungsstelle durchgeführt und inhaltsanalytisch ausgewertet.

Ergebnisse: Die Mehrzahl der Interviewten berichtet von Verhaltensauffälligkeiten der Kinder. Diese werden jedoch teilweise relativiert bzw. nicht mit der psychischen Erkrankung verknüpft. Die betroffenen Mütter sowie die Partnerinnen psychisch erkrankter Männer äußern sowohl Überforderungen durch die Erziehungsaufgaben wie auch Schuldgefühle gegenüber ihren Kindern. Das insgesamt positiv bewertete Beratungsangebot führte aus Sicht der Interviewten teilweise zu Veränderungen.

Summary

Objective: There is strong evidence suggesting that parental mental disorder affects the family as a whole. However, mental health service provision in Germany up until now has hardly lived up to the needs of these families. Thus, a counselling service for families with a mentally ill parent has been established at a psychiatric hospital serving a large catchments area in rural Bavaria. This qualitative study focuses on the clients’ family background as well as on their reasons for utilising the service and service satisfaction.

Methods: Problem-focussed interviews of 14 clients of a service for families with a mentally ill parent were subjected to content analysis.

Results: Most clients came to the counselling centre because of worries that the parent‘s mental illness might negatively affect children‘s well-being. However, other clients, by refusing the idea of a relation between their mental disorder and the children’s problems, tended to qualify their children’s behaviour. Mentally ill mothers in particular described their daily lives as utterly burdensome and also reported strong feelings of guilt towards their children. Clients assessed the counselling service as helpful and reported some significant changes.

Schlüsselwörter

Psychisch kranke Eltern - Beratung - subjektive Sicht

Keywords

Mentally ill parents - counselling service - subjective views

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