We are currently enrolled in a number of studies…..research…hoosy whatsits…basically they ask us a great many of questions….

I believe currently we are participating in 2 although it could be 3 I lose track who each set of interviews and questionnaires are for and there are others they are in the process of enrolling us in all essentially on the same topic….Besides using her as a case study, which is specifically about Prepubescent Bipolar Disorder

However the vast majority of the research…besides the case study…is all about Children of Parents of Mental Illness….

the very thing COPMI exists to support…..

The Shitty side of things is all the questions (wear it guys!) are written in a biased manner….assuming that children are automatically worse off for having a parent who is mentally ill….the manner in which they are scaling strengths and weaknesses of each factor almost looked strained as if you don’t think you will find any benefit and at best a minuscule obscure isolated benefit somewhere…outright first assumption made and it comes across blatantly in the questions….as if mentally ill parents simply through being mentally ill are a detriment to their children….

*sticks up her middle finger*

Now the thing is the VAST majority of families participating in these studies all have babies and preschoolers….it’s pretty quick to mark off questions at these ages there isn’t ALOT happening, they can’t speak up, they don’t have the vocabulary to actively participate and all parents work with a massive dollop of guess work when it comes to communicating with their kids at these ages….where the kind of impacts likely being reported are….”when I am depressed my toddler is SO grotty by the end of the day because I haven’t had the energy to chase her with a wet face washer and change her clothes 4 times through the course of the day because I didn’t want my washing pile to grow exponentially, I managed to feed her, change her diaper when it was soiled or wet and I put her through a wash cycle at the end of the day before barricading her in her room”….or “I fell asleep with her in my bed, snuggles are nice”

Darling your Baby just had a massive BOOST to her immune system and she survived the day without Injury you are a GREAT mum in my book and her immune system will be so much stronger for it!

we have just concluded WEEKS of interviews for one of them, even she was astonished how long it took….mostly because most families have young children rather than teen’s….

as I said dead quick and easy to tick tick tick tick…

But my household is interesting….super duper extra sauce interesting…because in my house it isn’t just the parents with mental illness…we have a complex dynamic of parents AND children with diagnosed mental illness….

HOWEVER…..the most interesting thing they are noticing is having parents with mental illness rather than exacerbating mental illness or causing mental illness…it has Rather led to Early Diagnosis, Accurate Diagnosis……Effective Treatment…Common Pitfalls Avoided…….and about the Fastest Recovery and Stability ever seen……

Take That!!!!

This Imperfect Mummy ROCKS!

It helps when they have someone they are close too they can speak too about symptoms and experiences which otherwise they would feel isolated and unable to speak to anyone about…

It helps that they arent alone in what is happening….that they have long term experience of seeing what happens when it’s done right and even as importantly when it isnt done right….

That there are consequences when we don’t apply what we learn…

That there are consequences when we don’t take our medications consistently….

And that they can see the resulting worsening symptoms when we shut ourselves away from the world and refuse to engage…..to understand why sometimes we do need too when we least want to….stand up and step out into the world.

It also helps to have someone there 24 hours who recognises symptoms……who realises that there is a grey area between normal and unwell….

Who comprehends the importance of not labelling everything but that once it is seen for what it is the earlier help is obtained the better but that it isn’t a process to rush through.

It also helps to have someone around who knows what to do when suicidal thoughts are expressed and doesnt panic……