Adult Children of Parents with Mental Illness: Losing Oneself. Who am I?

Abstract

There is a limited body of research that focuses on experiences of families of people with mental illness. While the body of knowledge concerning children of parents with mental illness is increasing, there remains limited discourse surrounding the experiences of adults who have lived with childhood parental mental illness. This paper examined one major theme of a study focusing on parenting narratives of adults who had experienced childhood parental mental illness. The narrative study from a metropolitan area of Australia reflects adult children's experiences of being overwhelmed with parental mental illness. They felt unsure of their own emotions and felt they had lost a sense of who they were as individual people. Adult children felt confused about their sense of reality, particularly for those whose parent had a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychosis. Their experiences of loss were closely associated with changing self identity. Furthermore, many of the narratives demonstrated experiences of grief for adult children. Greater understanding of adult children's perceptions of being parented by a person with mental illness, alongside their experiences of loss, has the potential to help health and social care professionals to facilitate greater resilience for families who are living with parental mental illness.

Experiences of adults who as children lived with a parent experiencing mental illness in a small‐scale society : A Qualitative study

“…The findings from the study relating to concealing, suffering, feeling lonely and taking care of chores in the family do not differ much from what is documented in previous studies about these children living in larger societies (e.g., Murphy et al. ; Somers, ). Likewise, previous studies document that children of parents experiencing a mental health illness might be responsible, resilient and caring.…”

“…Both family and children may want to keep the mental illness a secret (Dam & Hall, ; Grove et al., ). However, the secrecy might further feelings of stigma, shame, self‐blaming and problems with self‐identity (Dam & Hall, ; Murphy, Peters, Wilkes, & Jackson, ; Tanner, ). The above‐mentioned research as well as other studies (Bee et al., ; Foster, ; Grove et al., ) document that life for children living with a parent experiencing mental illness is well investigated in larger societies.…”

Adult children of parents with mental illness: Dehumanization of a parent – ‘She wasn't the wreck in those years that she was to become later’

“…Five themes were generated from the narratives: living with fear and mistrust, navigating stigma, loss of self, dehumanization of a parent, and parenting journeys. Three of the themes from the study findings have been published previously: living with fear and mistrust (Murphy et al 2015); loss of self (Murphy et al 2016b) and navigating stigma (Murphy et al 2017). Dehumanization of the parent by the adult child is presented in the present study.…”

“…Three of the themes from the study findings have been published previously: living with fear and mistrust (Murphy et al 2015); loss of self (Murphy et al 2016b) and navigating stigma (Murphy et al 2017). Three of the themes from the study findings have been published previously: living with fear and mistrust (Murphy et al 2015); loss of self (Murphy et al 2016b) and navigating stigma (Murphy et al 2017).…”

“…Some parents with mental illness, albeit not all, might have experienced mental health hospitalization. Adult children of parents with mental illness can feel an altered sense of self, fearing that they themselves become lost (Murphy et al 2016b). They might have been detained in hospital against their will, possibly resulting in fear and loss (Seed et al 2016).…”