The views and experiences of severely mentally ill mothers--a qualitative study

The majority of women with severe mental illness are mothers. Little is known about their experiences and the extent to which their needs are met.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 22 women with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder or severe depression with psychotic symptoms in Inner London. Participants' experiences, views about services and needs for support in parenting were discussed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and qualitative thematic analysis carried out.

Most participants who looked after their children described motherhood as rewarding and central to their lives. However, they described the demands associated with parenting and at the same time coping with severe mental illness as considerable, and some feared that their children would be adversely affected by their illnesses. Parenting responsibilities created practical impediments to engaging with mental health services. Fear of losing custody or access to children dominated interactions with mental health and social services, making most participants reluctant to disclose difficulties in parenting to professionals. A widespread assumption that mentally ill women are inherently poor parents, regardless of the facts of individual cases, was described, and stigma was seen as affecting children as well as mothers. Services were perceived as offering little continuing support in relation to parenting, intervening only in crises.

Little attention has so far been paid in research and service development to the fact that the majority of mentally ill women are mothers. Strategies for assessing and meeting the resulting unmet needs should be developed and evaluated.