title: [The needs of mentally ill parents--a review of the literature].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Approximately 10 % of women and 6 % of men who become parents will experience mental health problems and a significant proportion of these have a severe psychiatric illness.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper provides a literature review of the needs of parents with severe mental illness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mothers with severe mental illness have a wide range of complex health and social care needs in addition to their parenting needs, which must be addressed by services in pregnancy and postpartum to optimise outcomes. There is limited evidence on the needs of fathers with severe mental illness but they may have a greater number of needs than women, and a greater need for training in parenting skills than women suffering from severe mental illness. Parents with severe mental illness may experience stigma and discrimination, and fear accessing services due to fears of losing custody of their child.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although a significant proportion of parents with severe mental illness do lose custody, many can successfully parent if adequate support is available and needs are assessed and managed by a multi-disciplinary team.
authors.affiliation: Section of Women's Mental Health, Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom. louise.howard@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Louise M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Underdown
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002655:Child Custody; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D011247:Pregnancy; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D057545:Social Stigma; D012944:Social Support