How Children with Parents Suffering from Mental Health Distress Search for ‘Normality’ and Avoid Stigma

Abstract

Using data from in-depth interviews with 20 children, this study finds that children with parents suffering from mental health distress struggle hard to present themselves as ‘normal’ and equal among their peer group. The study shows how they avoid stigma in their presentation of self in everyday life. All the children in this study, regardless of age or parents’ suffering, are active participants and impression managers in and of their own lives. The authors question whether their active responsibility for their own and their family’s well-being becomes too heavy a burden and should be moved from children’s private sphere into public arenas such as schools or social and healthcare services.

Can I Tell Just by Myself? Discussing a Parental Mental Disorder With a Child in a Research Interview

“…Our findings corroborate those of previous studies that have demonstrated the experience of shame and associative stigma of children with parental mental problems (Cogan, Riddel, & Mayes, 2005;Östman, 2008;Fjone et al, 2009;Chan & Ying, 2010). They are also in accordance with the findings of Prior (2012), who analysed how young users of counseling services resist being positioned in a stigmatizing discourse of mental illness, and with those of Fjone et al (2009), who argue that children with parental mental disorders wish to present themselves as normal and equal in their peer group.…”

“…They are also in accordance with the findings of Prior (2012), who analysed how young users of counseling services resist being positioned in a stigmatizing discourse of mental illness, and with those of Fjone et al (2009), who argue that children with parental mental disorders wish to present themselves as normal and equal in their peer group. To achieve this end, the most obvious action is to conceal the parental situation (see also Oskouie et al, 2011).…”

“…Trondsen, 2012). However, previous studies show that children can find it satisfying to be able to help their family members and that it can enhance their social skills (Backer, 2011;Fjone et al, 2009). …”

“…For example, adolescents using counseling services seem to manage mental health stigma by resisting, in their argumentation, being positioned in a discourse of mental illness (Prior, 2012). Moreover, children with parents suffering from mental health problems struggle hard to present themselves as "normal" and equal in their peer group, and avoid talking about their parents in an unfavorable light (Fjone, Ytterhus, & Almvik, 2009). Additionally, it has been demonstrated that children who live in informal kinship care carefully manage to control stigmatizing information, such as serious parental problems, keeping it from their peers (Farmer, Selwyn, & Meakings, 2013).…”

Rom og etikk: Fortellinger om ambivalens

“…Med det menes at de tilhører en kategori som tradisjonelt ikke har blitt tatt på alvor av ansatte i hjelpetjenestene. Det som saerlig ser ut til å ha bli glemt og usynliggjort, er barnas egne erfaringer av foreldrenes psykiske sykdommer og rusavhengighet (Trondsen, 2011;Fjone, Ytterhus, & Almvik, 2009;Dunn, 1993). Når det gjelder vitenskapelige studier av denne gruppen barn, er de i hovedsak preget av et risikoorientert perspektiv (Trondsen, 2012, s. 118).…”