Parents with mental illness: lacking motivation to parent.

Parents with mental illness sometimes struggle to manage the demands of a family and the disabling symptoms of their illness. Limited interaction and poor relationships can negatively impact on children. Lack of motivation may inhibit these parents' ability to interact with, and provide adequate care for their children. This is especially problematic following a hospital admission. Lack of motivation, in psychiatric illnesses, can be a symptom, due to medication, or perhaps associated with frontal lobe disorder. Assessment, rehabilitation and support that focuses on parents' problems with motivation and planning and enhances their parenting would be beneficial in helping parents with mental illness provide the best possible care for their children.