Should people struggling with mental illness have children?

[Anonymous]

Curious as to your thoughts on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Depression and anxiety are mental illnesses.
The birthrate would plummet if no one with a mental illness had a cild

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

I have struggled with mental illness and have mental illness in my family.

I think I'm a pretty darn good mom and really work at it. In some ways my experience working through mental illness has helped me as a parent. It has made me more empathetic and given me a better understanding of how the brain works and what it means to support someone else who is struggling.

So yes, I think people who have struggled with mental illness should have kids, assuming they want them and are willing to put the effort in to parenting them well.

Also there are people who don't have diagnosed mental illness who are terrible parents.

[Anonymous]

It should be discussed heavily before doing so. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, it’s 10xs harder so the expectation should be that you may struggle parent vs the breezy social media posts we see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It should be discussed heavily before doing so. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, it’s 10xs harder so the expectation should be that you may struggle parent vs the breezy social media posts we see.

Ironically, most of the "breeze social media posts" were posted by parents with mental health issues.

One way to avoid mental health problems as a parent is to not spend time looking at breezy posts about parenting on social media, as they rarely reflect reality and are often posted with the intention of inducing envy or admiration (in order to get you to keep looking and perhaps buy products and services suggested by the poster, who has established themselves as an authority on parenting by making it appear as though they are effortlessly good at it through a highly curated and often staged social media profile).

[Anonymous]

I'm not a eugenics person so my response is maybe. As long as both people involved understand:

1) What triggers the mental health episodes and what could trigger it in parenthood
2) Understanding their children could suffer from similar or worse mental health issues and will need support for that
3) How and when to get help as individuals and a couple

At no time if one of the people involved is a narcissist or has no interest in the partners well being or doesn't want to be a parent should they embark on the journey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depression and anxiety are mental illnesses.
The birthrate would plummet if no one with a mental illness had a cild

But it's also a spectrum. My sister in law is pressuring my brother in law with agoraphobia, alcoholism and severe anxiety to have kids. When he expressly states he doesn't want kids. That's not a good idea, full stop.

[Anonymous]

This is something that I think of daily or hourly, as someone who married into a family with hidden mental illness (like literally hidden in a basement!) and whose STBX has developed dangerous mental illness symptoms over the past 5 years and after we already had a child together.

I’m sorry but the answer is absolutely not. It is irresponsible, selfish, and magical thinking on the part of a mentally ill person with a strong family history of mental illness to think that by just adding some new genes they might eliminate whatever issues run through their family.

Unfortunately one hallmark of some of the most severe mental illnesses and the ones that should disqualify people from procreating is total lack of awareness of their mental illness. Anosognosia should be the actual disqualifier rather than mental illness itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It should be discussed heavily before doing so. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, it’s 10xs harder so the expectation should be that you may struggle parent vs the breezy social media posts we see.

You can develop mental illness at any point. If a woman had post-partum depression with her first child should she not have any more children since the risk is very high for a recurrence?

[Anonymous]

It's somewhat dependent on the illness itself but in general, no. I am kuky to be neurological and without mental health issues but zi have several friends who do suffer and I have nothing but the highest respect for them that they have decided to end the genetic line of suffering but not having kids. Now, if everyone else could back off their uterine status without going into familiar bipolar history that would be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It should be discussed heavily before doing so. If you suffer from depression or anxiety, it’s 10xs harder so the expectation should be that you may struggle parent vs the breezy social media posts we see.

You can develop mental illness at any point. If a woman had post-partum depression with her first child should she not have any more children since the risk is very high for a recurrence?

DP. Yes she shouldn’t! Why trouble trouble?!

[Anonymous]

Ideally, no.
However as a person with no mental illness who had a mentally ill mother, I can say that there’s a chance children can avoid it or treat it differently.
My brother has a personality disposition that is more resembling of my mother and when he was depressed he got treatment. She on the other hand became a hoarder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a eugenics person so my response is maybe. As long as both people involved understand:

1) What triggers the mental health episodes and what could trigger it in parenthood
2) Understanding their children could suffer from similar or worse mental health issues and will need support for that
3) How and when to get help as individuals and a couple

At no time if one of the people involved is a narcissist or has no interest in the partners well being or doesn't want to be a parent should they embark on the journey.

There’s no arguing over the fact that Trump is a narcissist. Luckily his kids were raised by their mothers. With support most people with a mental illness do well.

With Autism increasing at higher rates, parents need to know about the link to schizophrenia and that teens with autism have a much higher chance of developing the illness than teens without Autism.

ADHD and Autism also have shared genetic roots. It’s not so simple as one or two illnesses, there are many. They are almost all interconnected and one diagnosis can put you at risk for something else.

[Anonymous]

Where do you draw the line? Why stop at mental illness? Should people with genetic defects have children? Who gets to decide what counts?