| Summary: | Background About 2 % of children aged 0-15 years have at least one parent diagnosed in a psychiatric facility with any mental illness. Three common mental illnesses are schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia is a common form of psychosis, depression affects human behavior, thoughts and emotional life and bipolar disorder involves symptoms such as depression and mania. Aim The aim of this literature study is to describe children's experiences of living with parent with a mental illness. The study also described the included articles data collection methods. Method This study is a descriptive literature study and the scientific articles were searched in the Cinahl and PsycInfo databases. Main results The result of the articles showed that the children felt different fears by living with the parent who has a mental illness. The fear was that the parent could commit suicide, if the illness was hereditary and that the mood was unstable. The children also felt ashamed of the parent so they found different ways that made them feel more “normal”. An adult responsibility was something the children occupied at an early age by taking care of households chores, their siblings and their sick parent. One wish that the children had was that they wanted more support from the environment, for example, adults from the health care. Conclusion Feelings such as fear, shame and heavy responsibility is common in children of parent with mental illness. Also lack of support and information about the parents illness is experienced by the children and it is therefore important in the nurses work to be able to support these children and accommodate their needs.
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