Barnens mående i dysfunktionella hem

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study is to highlight children’s perspectives on parental mental health issues and/or substance abuse problems. Exploring their perspectives involves analyzing autobiographies written by individuals who have lived in dysfunctional homes. The analysis categorizes themes that cover events and experiences across all biographies. The study examines the children’s own mental health and how and if it gets affected from their parents’ issues, grounded in various concepts of attachment theory, aiming to investigate whether the children may have experienced insecure attachment or not. The thesis also delves into what enables children to find inner strength despite the challenging childhood they have experienced and how childhood is described, encompassing both negative and positive aspects. Their parents exhibit various forms of issues at different levels of severity, including alcohol misuse, severe mental health problems, and/or comorbidity.