View All Articles

Does Your Child Have a Mental Health Disorder? Preventing Parental Burnout

October 08, 2024

If your child is suffering with depression, anxiety or another mental health disorder, it affects your life, too. From advocating for your child to managing how it impacts their home and social life, it can be overwhelming and lead to parental burnout.

Parental burnout is intense exhaustion that can lead to feelings of detachment from your children and uncertainty about your ability to parent. If you ignore these feelings, there can be severe, negative consequences affecting you and your child. These can include thoughts about escape, parental neglect and harm, and physical and emotional abuse.

Recognizing Parental Burnout

Burned-out parents have chronic stress about how they’ll get everything done. That can disrupt sleep, which exacerbates the anxiety and irritability and continue the cycle. If you are burned out, you likely have experienced these symptoms:

  • First stage: Overwhelming exhaustion. This usually is physical fatigue when your children are young and emotional tiredness with adolescents or teens.
  • Second stage: Distancing yourself from your kids to preserve your energy
  • Third phase: Loss of fulfillment in parenting

Symptoms build on each other and can make you feel like you are not the same parent you once were or even the parent you would like to be. This contrast can cause you to feel inescapable distress, shame and guilt.

Are You at Risk for Parental Burnout?

If you already are experiencing prolonged chronic stressors, you are at a higher risk for parental burnout. These factors include:

  • Financial insecurity
  • Lack of support
  • Social isolation
  • Being a single parent
  • Parenting a special needs child
  • Being an immigrant parent

Your cultural values also can play a role in whether you are experiencing burnout. Eastern cultures typically prioritize children’s obedience and respect toward elders, but Western cultures often promote self-improvement and independence, which means kids may be less likely to follow instructions. Plus, when society focuses on competition, performance and perfectionism, you may not ask for the support you need.

What You Can Do

Avoiding parental burnout requires real effort. There are several components that will help you maintain the balance you need to parent a child with mental health struggles, including:

Make sure you are taking care of your physical and mental health by eating well, exercising and getting enough sleep.

Build a support network of family and friends, and join groups for parents facing similar challenges.

Work with your pediatrician, therapists, counselors and psychiatrists because they can offer guidance and support tailored to your child's and family’s needs. Have a plan in place for managing crisis situations, including emergency contacts and immediate steps to take. Familiarize yourself with local crisis intervention services and hotlines.

Educate yourself on your child’s mental health challenges. Understanding more about your child’s mental health challenges can make it less overwhelming and help you come up with a plan. Read books, listen to podcasts, attend workshops and consult with healthcare professionals.

Consciously choose positive interactions with your child. Recall fun times by watching old videos together. Practice simple acts of kindness, such as giving them a favorite treat, book or game. Smile when your child walks into the room and don’t take their behavior personally.

Consistent self-care must be prioritized. Use your support network to take a break for a few hours, a day or longer. Plan quiet time alone, date nights or time to do things you enjoy. You will come back to parenting refreshed and better able to tackle the challenges of your child with a mental health condition.

Choose to Stay in Touch

Sign up to receive the latest health news and trends, wellness & prevention tips, and much more from Orlando Health.

Sign Up