Focus on Women: Mothers With Mental Illness: II. Family Relationships and the Context of Parenting

Abstract

Although family members may seem to be natural supports for mothers with mental illness, their involvement in the context of parenting may not be entirely positive. The contributions of family members to the context of parenting for mothers with mental illness must be considered by treatment providers if unintentional negative outcomes are to be avoided.

Critical Issues for Parents with Mental Illness and their Families

“…The majority of women, in the vast majority of these studies have diagnoses of psychosis, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or are described as having chronic or severe mental illness. Women with affective disorders outnumbered those labeled with psychotic disorders in only two samples (Nicholson et al, 1998a(Nicholson et al, , 1998bWhite et al, 1995), even though, judging from the NCS prevalence data previously cited, mothers with affective disorders far outnumber those diagnosed with psychotic disorders.…”

“…Women with schizophrenia are less likely to be married or living with a partner when their children are born (Miller, 1997;Miller & Finnerty, 1996). Mothers explain husbands or partners, in fact, may be resources or stressors, e.g., assisting with childcare and household tasks or undermining women's efforts to parent and/or recover from illness (Nicholson et al, 1998b). In Mowbray and colleagues' study, children's fathers were one of the hassles rated highest by mothers (Mowbray et al).…”

“…However, findings are limited in generalizability, given the characteristics of studies and study participants. Studies in the U.S. over the past 10 years have, for the most part, involved small samples of women recruited in hospital, clinic, or other treatment settings (Joseph, Joshi, Lewin & Abrams, 1999;Miller, 1990;Miller & Finnerty, 1996;Mowbray et al, 1995b;Nicholson, Sweeney & Geller, 1998a, 1998bRogosch, Mowbray & Bogat, 1992;Rudolph et al, 1990;Sands, 1995;Zemencuk, Rogosch & Mowbray, 1995). A smaller number of studies have drawn larger samples from pools of existing data (Gamache, Tessler & Nicholson, 1995;Kelly et al, 1999;White et al, 1995), or clinic or rehabilitation center populations (Ritsher, Coursey & Farrell, 1997).…”

“…Maintaining relationships when children are living with relatives or in foster care may be difficult (Nicholson et al, 1998b). Visits may be stressful to both parent and child, particularly if not well planned or managed.…”

“…Fifty-five percent of the women in Ritsher et al's study (1997) indicated they have at least one family member who is supportive, and 61% feel fully accepted as a member of the family. Mothers, however, describe feeling disempowered when grandparents or other relatives make decisions about children's schooling or medical care without consulting them (Nicholson et al, 1998b).…”