Prevalence of parental mental illness in Australian families

Aims and Method To provide multiple estimates of the numbers of Australian and Victorian families and children living in families where a parent has had a mental illness. We used the Australian Bureau of Statistics Victorian Mental Health Branch service usage and data collected from 701 community participants to triangulate prevalence information. Results According to population estimates, 23.3% of all children in Australia have a parent with a non-substance mental illness, 20.4% of mental health service users have dependent children and 14.4% of the community study participants report having at least one parent with a mental illness. Clinical Implications The multiple prevalence estimates of the numbers of children in families with parental mental illness provide fundamental information for psychiatric policy, planning and programming.