Just Like Any Other Family? Everyday Life Experiences of Mothers of Adults with Severe Mental Illness in Sweden

Bibliographic Data

ID8909277
AuthorsKatarina Piuva (0000-0001-5429-8728, Stockholm University, corresponding author), Helene Brodin (0000-0002-7770-9195, Stockholm University)
Year2020
Volume56
Issue6
Pages1023-1032
Publication date2020-01-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunity Mental Health Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-3853 • E-ISSN: 1573-2789
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10597-020-00549-z
PMID31915979
OpenAlexW2999559604
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited25

This study explores experiences of mothers in Sweden who care for their adult children suffering from severe mental illness. Using 15 interviews with mothers from 40 to 80 years old, the article examines how predominant professional knowledge and sanism constructs the mothers and their children as deviant and what counterstrategies the mothers develop as a response to these experiences of discrimination. The findings show that the mothers' experiences are characterized by endless confrontations with negative attitudes and comments that have forced them to go through painful and prolonged processes of self-accusations for not having given enough love, care, support and help in different stages of their children's life. But the mothers' experiences also reveal important aspects of changes over the life span. As the mothers are ageing, the relationship between them and their children becomes more reciprocal and the ill child may even take the role as family carer

Developmental psychology · Everyday life · Mental health · Mental illness · Psychiatry · Family Caregiving in Mental Illness · Family Support in Illness · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Psychology