[Significance of family relations for coping with psychological disorders--results of an empirical study of therapy prognosis of children and adolescents with psychological disorders].

The importance of family relations for the therapy of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents is discussed reporting results from an empirical study carried out in an inpatient sample of a child and adolescent psychiatric unit with regard to the quality of mother-child resp, father-child relation and its influence on coping processes. Whether adolescents suffering from a psychiatric disorder are able to cope with their problems during the course of a therapy, depends on their individual and social resources. Therapy outcome is to a great extent influenced by the emotional quality of their family relations. Hostility and rejection as well as unstructured and disorganized parental behavior contribute to a negative outcome. A differentiated analysis shows further that the relation between the adolescents and their fathers is particularly important for therapy prognosis. Nevertheless, one has to consider the respective relations with both parents for therapy prognosis, as problems with one parent may be partly compensated by a good relationship with the other parent. Finally, the cooperation between parents and clinical staff is discussed. Data and experiences show that interest and readiness of parents (mothers as well as fathers) for a close cooperation are higher than generally expected.