Living in a secret world : adult children of parents with mental illness : parenting narratives

Abstract

Literature summary: There has been a growing international discourse regarding the experiences and needs of children living with a parent with mental illness. However, there remains a paucity of research and dialogue surrounding the experiences of adult children who have lived with childhood parental mental illness. The limited available research which considered adult children highlighted increased risks of anxiety, depression, suicide, and limited psychosocial functioning. Furthermore there is a limited discourse surrounding the adult child's own parenting role. Qualitative research which invites adult children to construct their parenting narratives, (being parented and their own current parenting role) is unique. Methodology: A social constructionist philosophy was adopted to underpin the study. A Partnership Framework for a Reflexive Narrative for Researcher and Participant was generated specially for this study. Participants were invited to meet with the researcher if they had experienced childhood parenting by a parent with a diagnosed mental illness and if they themselves, had not been diagnosed or treated for mental illness. During a metaphorical research space, the researcher met with individual participants to work in partnership to construct their narrative of being parented, alongside their own parenting role. A multi-staged thematic analysis process was used thereafter. In addition, a chronological mapping of participant's experiences highlighted important themes from childhood, the teenager period, adulthood, and subsequent adult children's parenting journeys. Findings: The study findings identified four main themes and seven subthemes within the parenting narratives of adult children. The four themes were: living with fear and mistrust; living with stigma and secrecy; the loss of me and my parent and finding oneself - a journey of recovery. The findings demonstrated that children living with parental mental illness experienced fear and mistrust. For some participants, these feelings continued into adulthood. Negative social stigmas associated with mental illness generated a culture of familial secrecy. The burden of secrecy resulted in feelings of being overwhelmed, with a loss of sense of self. Adult children reflected they felt they had lost their own identity or were unsure of who they were as individual people. Alongside a loss of sense of self, parental dehumanisation from the perception of the adult children was common. Participants felt they had to find themselves or reinvent themselves in their late teens and early 20s, after a personal recognition that they were becoming or had become overwhelmed. They actively sought belonging to others. Becoming parents helped adult children to develop a sense of self, purpose and significant belonging to others. However, adult children acknowledged that they felt they had no internal sense of parenting. They created new frameworks of parenting, often in opposition to the parenting which they had themselves experienced. Discussion: Families who experienced parental mental illness were subjected to long standing negative social stigmas. Stigmas created a culture of secrecy, compounding the child's or adult child's feelings of difference, isolation, fear and mistrust of others. Mistrust was evident within the parental and child relationship. While there was evidence of a changing, more positive sense of self for the adult child, the narratives suggested that parental dehumanisation, possibly as a result of intra-familial stigma by the adult child, is not a dynamic construct. Once the parent was dehumanised in the perception of the adult child, there was limited evidence of later positive change or repositioning. Intra-familial stigma and child to parent dehumanisation presents a very complex interface. Conclusions: Much work is required to reduce the intensity of mental illness social stigmas. Innovative and targeted education for community members is important. Further research is needed to examine the role of intra-familial stigma and possible impacts on the parental and child or adult child relationship. Providing age appropriate information to all family members regarding mental illness will harbour a non-stigmatising, non-demeaning dialogue which families can use openly. Assessing pre-existing conceptualisations about mental illness is critical, prior to psycho-education, to address familial social stigmas. This can help prevent loss of self, parental and child mistrust, and parental dehumanisation. A real sense of belonging to others, either with groups or individuals was important for adult children who had experienced childhood parental mental illness.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English