Key points

Parental authority is often gradually lost in families when a child has a serious mental health condition,

Parents start to walk on eggshells and avoid asking much of the child or setting any reasonable limits.

All children need limits in order to feel safe and secure; removing limits fuels more negative behavior.

Family-based treatments can restore parental authority, along with helping families build back connection.

The Erosion of Parental Authority

One of the most common dynamics seen in families who have a child or teen with a mental health condition is a gradual erosion of parental authority.

By authority, this does not mean an over-the-top, authoritarian, “my way or the highway” type of authority. It refers to parents who can no longer set even the most basic limit

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