Center for Family Psychiatry and Psychotherapy GmbH
The Center for Family Psychiatry and Psychotherapy GmbH (ZFPPs) offers integrated and acute, bond-oriented daily clinical therapy for both mentally ill children and their parents and / or mentally ill parents with children. The focus is particularly aimed at mentally ill children with mentally ill parents and vice versa i.e. both parents and children are symptom carriers within the family. As a rule, the illnesses of parents and children are not mutually linear i.e. it is unclear whether there is a causal relationship between the parents' and the child’s disease. The disease of parents and children involve complex interactions and often reinforce one another during the progression of the disease.
Very few clinics across Germany have established integrated admission and therapy options focused on a parent-and-child setting within the statutory healthcare system. Integrated therapy for parents and children is already an established part of the GKV's catalog of services, but demand far exceeds current capacity.
The treatment focus at the ZFPP for parent-child pairs or families is divided into three focus areas and based on the disease of the parent, the disease of the child AND in particular on interaction, relationship and bonding. Mentally ill children often have parents who suffer from mental illness, particularly in the case of a diagnosed bonding disorder or sub-clinically impaired bonding. Attachment trauma is often passed on trans-generationally, probably partly reinforced by an at least temporarily disturbed parental ability to perceive and reflect their children’s mental state ("mentalization disorder"). This very often goes hand in hand with "parental helplessness" i.e. parents feel both ineffective and helpless in their role as a parent. As a result, they can no longer fully provide a safe point of reference and orientation for their children, which can increase the behavioral difficulties in the child and will in turn enforce mental disorders in both parents and children. Generally, the success of therapeutic intervention in infants and children up to early school age is often limited by the parents´ mental disorders. Attachment security can be improved through therapeutic interventions, and secure attachment is one of the most important protective factors for healthy psychological development. Integrated bond-oriented therapy for mentally ill parents and children is rarely offered.
The ZFPP is run and managed by the Center for Family Psychiatry and Psychotherapy gGmbH and operates as a day clinic for families. In general, parent-child pairs or families are admitted, the other parent can also participate in selected therapy modules e.g. family therapy, group therapy. The service is particularly applicable if both parent and child suffer from mental illness. Healthy parents or children/siblings can be accepted as accompanying persons. Both parents can also be admitted as patients if this is felt to be medically necessary, and several children (as patients or accompanying persons) can also be admitted. Whole families or 3 generations (grandparent, parent, child) can also be accommodated if required.
The ZFPPs offers semi-inpatient admission for parent-child couples or entire families for interaction-related disorders where mental illness has manifested itself in dysfunctional behavior. From the ICD diagnosis, the diagnostic spectrum essentially comprises the complete treatment spectra of the two indication areas, i.e. child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy as well as psychiatry and psychotherapy. However, beyond the ICD diagnosis, indications for admission are interactional difficulties between parent and child, which at least maintain or further aggravate existing psychological symptoms. As a consequence, despite the wide spectrum of indications, the ZFPP's therapy is not aimed at all patients but rather tailored to those patients in whom interaction between parents and children play an important pathogenetic role in regard to mental illness. This is often the case when both parent and child suffer from clinically severe mental illness.
Diagnostic spectrum for parents: Depression and other affective disorders, adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, somatoform disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), personality disorders and schizophrenic disorders beyond the acute phase.
Diagnostic spectrum children: Mental or psychosomatic illnesses, communication and interaction disorders e.g. emotional disorders, behavioral disorders, anxiety, depression, compulsion, problems at school, school avoidance, separation anxiety, somatoform disorders, early childhood regulatory disorders such as feeding or sleeping disorders and crybabies.