Should people with mental illness or addiction have children?

Question

So you think it is morally and ethically correct for someone with a mental illness or an addiction to have children, when there is a chance they could pass on the trait/tendancy to this illness to the child?

If you are the child of someone with a mental illness, do you think your parents made the right desicison in having you?

If you suffer from depression or another mental illness, have you given thought to wether you should had children?

I agree that any one who is still battling with an addiction should not have children, but what about recovering alcholics with several years sobriety?

This isn't a question about wether mentally ill people can care for children and be good parents, I'm interested to know if the should risk the genetic problems that could occour.

Thanks all :)

I seem to have upset a few people, and that was not my intention.

I recognise that this is, and should be, a personal desicison for each person with mental illness, and sterilisation and things just isn't on.

I'm sorry that I've upset you, I just wanted opinions.

In case you are wondering, I'm on of those children who shouldn't have been. I think my mother made the wrong desicion in having me - it would have been better if I wasn't born - I don't like having to go through what I'm going through.
I don't know if I could ever bring a child in to this world, knowing that they might suffer like I have.

Marvin the paranoid....
If you'd like to talk, feel free to send me an email: [e-mail]

Answer 1

surely there are much worse physical illness that can be inherited than mental health. i can understand your reasoning but you have come across a little harsh no one should be denied children no matter what health problems they have. i have not had children and dont want any cos i have enough coping with myself at times and therefore feel it would be unfair on the child. but i would NEVER agree mentally ill people cant have children

Answer 2

If the mental illness is untreatable or the person is not willing to submit to good care, then it might be a very good thing to not have children. If on the other hand, the person is trying to get well and can become well and they are responsible about their condition, then it could be possible when they are on a good road and under good care. There are so many levels of mental illness that it is hard to say. So much just depends on the family history, the severity of the illness and the ability to control or cure the illness. The same is true for addictive behavior. I know people who have become well and have been able to go on to a full life with a family. I would hate to tell you or anyone to not have children without more complete info. A doctor should be consulted and not the general public. We might influence you in the wrong direction when this is really a question for a professional. As far as asking others if they feel they should be here, I would be careful in that as well. Each person has so much to offer. Even if they have needed special care, their being here has given someone a chance to care for them or to help them. Again, I think the first and last questions should be asked of a professional and by each person considering children. A blanket statement could influence and adversely affect a persons decision in the wrong way and deprive them of the wonder of having a child.

Answer 3

A lot of people with mental illness and addictions, also have problems with being able to cope emotionally with stressful everyday situations and dealing with issues of responsibility.
Anyone in this situation apart from thinking about passing on traits, should be thinking very long and very carefully about one thing. "Will I be able to cope"

Reason being that these days, if Social Services get even a sniff that you are having trouble coping. They will take your baby away. Believe me when I say it doesn't take much evidence. When they take one, it gives them every justification to be waiting outside the delivery room with open arms when you have another.

I have personally witnessed my second grandson being taken away by 13 policemen, a riot van, four patrol cars, two hospital security guards and two social workers. Within six hours of birth.
The reason, his brother bumped his head and had a brain heamorhage in what was later found to have been an accident.
Once they have a child they very rarely give them back. They will and have taken children for no other reason than the fact that the parents have learning difficulties however loving and caring they are.

I haven't seen my first grandson in 18 months and my second in 9.

I point you in the direction of "FASSIT" on this. That is if you feel like getting morally and righteously angry.

On another personal note, I inherited most of the bad physical traits of both my parents. No I'm not ugly or considered disabled but I have been in a lot of physical discomfort all my life. My parents weren't to know and so I have no regrets.
I took the discision a long time ago not to pass these traits on to a child of my own. Instead I took on a ready made family and treated the children as my own. Even the oldest call me dad now which is reward enough.

Answer 4

Thank the lord for the constitution . The freedoms we have in America should never be taken for granted . There are countries that surgically remove a mentally ill persons ability to have children . The health care in our country is some of the best in the world , But public opinion does not always accept the fact that mental illnesses are treatable. If a person who is stuck with a ailment such as blindness or deaf this would never be an issue. I know first hand what it is like to have children in such a dilemma and I will never regret having had them......... And as far as addiction both of my parents were alcolholics . But this didn't make one of me. The history books also state that the personality types who migrated to this land had multiple mental issues to leave and go to a unknown land . We are the melting pot of a vast group of immigrants who may not necessarily have had all their bearings but we should keep in mind that you do not know if your will pass own these same traits to your child. Look at what the reign of Adolph Hitler and his followers would have wanted to create "a supreme race"......Mental health and addiction are treatable hopefully soon there will be health care made available to everyone with these serious conditions instead of the of the STIGMA and ignorance of so many . If the parents cannot be responsible for their own children that just means that the child should be awarded to those who can fulfil the proper care and development of the child. In other words , society must not take a blind eye to the welfare of them. Kids do reach out but listenening is a rare practice these days

last I would add mental illness can strike at any time in a person life and the same is true of addiction.............

Answer 5

I think it would depend on how bad your illness/addiction is.

Because of this you may not be able to provide/look after your child as best to your abilities and this child may end up in care/homeless etc.

I would say, get yourself better and have children when the times right, having an addiction usually makes a person very self centred and selfish, and this isn't a good thing to have when bringing a child up as they need you and your support 24/7 as they grow up, and if your suffering from an addiction its going to make it very difficult!

You may think that your getting better or feeling better at this moment in time, but do you know whether you'll still be like this in 5 years time?

80% of people suffering from a mental illness actually had a bad childhood or were abused or neglected growing up.

Having a mental illness is not necessarily passed on through your genes, but your child may pick up some of your traits, especially if your suffer from depression. If there is a family history of mental illness throught out your families generations again the chances are higher

Alcoholism can be passed through genes but is usually caused by that persons life experiences/stress, being an alcoholic doesnt also mean your mentally ill!!!!

Concentrate on yourself first, then your future!

take care x

Answer 6

I'm sorry but I think everyone should be allowed to have children. And if you're worried about genetic implications then probably over 80% of the world shouldn't be reproducing. Mental illness isn't the only thing that's genetic. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's, some cancers, birth defects, the list is endless. Every component of your body is linked to a genetic trait...and therefore almost every illness in existence is as well. I'm sure as heck glad my parents had me and we don't make the cut on multiple illnesses. We've got Alzheimer's, diabetes, schizophrenia and depression and anxiety disorders, alcoholism, high everything, heart disease, breast cancer, and a nifty pain disorder. Despite all that me and my sister and my cousins have turned out OK. We lead productive normal lives and are productive normal people. We don't look any different until you open our medical charts. My fiance's family carries the gene for early onset Alzheimer's, his grandmother and his father were both either vegetable or dead before 45. And even thought he worries everyday that he won't see our daughter down the aisle or that he's passed it on to her we both think it's worth it and take hope in the fact that it didn't touch his two aunts. And how are you going to tell who to cut off? My grandparents are free of mental illness and so are my aunts and uncles and my mom but then almost every single one of my cousins has a mental issue. Then on my dad's side my grandma had severe schizophrenia but my dad and aunt are passably normal. How do you know who carries the gene? How do you know whether it's recessive or dominant? You're suffering from severe delusions if you think you can genetically engineer the human race into not having diseases. It's not possible and you would cripple the entire essence of what we are in the attempt.

Answer 7

No, they shouldn't even be allowed to have friends because they might convince other people of their delusions.

I am one of those people too. I am yet to find a compassionate soul who'd want to sit down, listen to me, or even hug me when I am down. I think everyone is afraid that being with me or loving me might cause them to go insane. In the past three years, I haven't heard a friendly or a loving "I love you the way you are". My so-called friends just tell me to take the high road-- I obviously don't need love or acceptance.

If what I have is genetic, I would never put another soul through so much misery. I know how you feel.

In the past three years, I have been through more stress than seventy people do in a lifetime -- and I didn't turn into a sociopath killing people randomly. "Normal" people see me as a coward because I don't hurt others and so they love to laugh at me.

Even if my kid turns out to be "normal" by the worldly standard, I wouldn't want him to be in this world. He will only learn to victimize and label others in the name of act utilitarianism.

(The answerer next to me says that all the great thinkers had mental illness; how can people trust their knowledge to be authentic -- they were probably making assumptions according to their delusions? I see the "normal" people as a vicious, greedy lot who would use even a mental patient for their ulterior motives and criticize him nonetheless.)

BTW, Hitler encouraged his psychiatrists to diagnose everyone in the camps who was even a little different with some or the other mental-illness, so that they could be sent to the gas-chambers. Dr. Victor Frankl talks about this misuse of psychiatry in his book.

Answer 8

My grandmother had depression and my mother has bipolar disorder and then there is me and my sister. I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and I do believe that my sister has it as well but she has never been diagnosed.

I am so happy to be here in this world and to have experienced the things that I have. I am very glad that my mother chose to have me. My mother wasn't the greatest that she could have been but she did her best and having bipolar disorder did not make her a bad mother.

Even though I have bipolar disorder, I am very good with psychology and medicine. I'm going to school for medicine and my passion is psychiatry. I'm very good with children and development. I will make an excellent mother and I do plan on having children of my own. I currently help with my boyfriends daughter, who I absolutely adore and my disorder has nothing to do with how she is raised by me.

There are SO many different types of mental illness that you can't just say no to all of them. Depression is so slight in comparison to schizophrenia so I think that should be a factor.

I do think that people who are addicts will always be addicts but if they have recovered then they should have children if they choose to. People who can't overcome their addictions shouldn't have children if they can help it but it's really no ones choice but their own.

Answer 9

My dad is both an addict and has mental illnesses. This just gives me an example of what not to be like when i move out of the house (i'm 17). I dont know if my parents made the right decision, but i consider myself to be a good person, and i do dislike my father immensely, but if i wasnt born, where the hell else would i be. So this is kind of a difficult question for me...

Answer 10

If the mental illness or addiction is under control then yes. If not, and they cannot properly take care of the child then no. Traits are not always passed onto children and if so then you can help them deal with it as well.

This is only if the illness is not a very serious one as well but a common one like depression or OCD.