Motherhood, Mental Illness and Recovery : Stories of Hope

Despite the importance of regaining social roles during recovery from mental illness, the intersection between motherhood and serious mental illness is often overlooked. This book aims to rectify that neglect. A series of introductory chapters describing current research and services available to mothers with serious mental illness are followed by personal accounts of clients reflecting on their parenting experiences. One goal of the book is to provide clinicians with information on this seldom addressed topic, which they can then use to help patients who are struggling with questions and barriers in their attempts to parent. The inclusion of personal accounts of mothers on issues such as stigma, fears, and discrimination in the context of parenting with a mental illness is intended to promote the message of mental illness recovery to a larger audience as well. Finally, it is hoped that this handbook will help inspire more research on mothers with mental illness and the creation of more services tailored to their needs Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Supporting Mothers Living with Mental Illnesses in Recovery....Pages 3-17 Modes of Experience and Understanding: Parenting Assessment for Mothers with Serious Mental Illness and Child Protective Service Involvement....Pages 19-31 When Your Patient Has Children: How the Clinician Can Support Good Parenting....Pages 33-44 Mothers Are Everywhere: Finding Stories of Motherhood in a State Psychiatric Hospital....Pages 45-52 Pregnancy and the Perinatal Period....Pages 53-71 Substance Use Disorders and Motherhood....Pages 73-87 Legal Issues Regarding Children....Pages 89-108 LGBT Mothers....Pages 109-117 Front Matter....Pages 119-119 Once Upon A Time I Was Silent....Pages 121-125 Moving Out of Darkness....Pages 127-133 As My Heart Beats....Pages 135-138 Don’t Give Up....Pages 139-142 Pregnant on the Psychiatric Unit: One Woman’s Journey Through the State Mental Health System and into Motherhood....Pages 143-146 There and Back Again....Pages 147-150 Be True to Yourself....Pages 151-154 Second Chance Motherhood....Pages 155-159 Love Endures Time....Pages 161-161 Front Matter....Pages 163-163 Postpartum Psychosis Forever Changed My Life....Pages 165-168 Shine Your Light into Darkness....Pages 169-173 Finding Hope When There Is None....Pages 175-179 Front Matter....Pages 163-163 Too Few Memories....Pages 181-187 Until a Better Time Comes....Pages 189-193 Post-Traumatic Mothering....Pages 195-200 Emotional High to Deep Despair....Pages 201-207 It’s Okay to Get Help....Pages 209-211 Hope Soars....Pages 213-216 Front Matter....Pages 217-217 Motherhood Saved My Life....Pages 219-224 The Darkness Isn’t So Dark Anymore....Pages 225-229 An Eccentric Mother....Pages 231-236 Together We Are Whole....Pages 237-239 Worried Sick: Postpartum Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder....Pages 241-248 Little Rays of Sunshine....Pages 249-254 Healing Daughter, Healing Mother....Pages 255-262 Learning, Loving, and Giving Back....Pages 263-267 The Best Mother I Can Be....Pages 269-274 No Perfect Parent....Pages 275-276 Front Matter....Pages 277-277 A Day in the Life of Bipolar Disorder....Pages 279-284 Family Secrets....Pages 285-291 Find Your Light....Pages 293-299 Mental Illness and the Pursuit of Stability Across Three Generations....Pages 301-306 Front Matter....Pages 277-277 Coming into the Light....Pages 307-311 Hard Work and Love....Pages 313-318 An Unquiet Mom: Much More Than a Memoir of a Mother with Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse....Pages 319-326 Front Matter....Pages 327-327 Shadow Mothers....Pages 329-332 River of Resilience: A Daughter’s Memories of Becoming Whole....Pages 333-344 Reaching Back for Reason and Resilience....Pages 345-351 This book describes current research and services available to mothers with serious mental illness. It includes personal accounts of mothers on issues such as stigma, fears, and discrimination in the context of parenting with a mental illness Nikole Benders-hadi, Mary E. Barber, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References.