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8 - Mentally ill mothers in the parenting role: clinical management and treatment

from Part II - Comprehensive assessment and treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2009

By
Teresa Jacobsen
Edited by
Michael Göpfert ,
Jeni Webster  and
Mary V. Seeman
Teresa Jacobsen
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois, USA
Michael Göpfert
Affiliation:
Webb House Democratic Therapeutic Community, Crewe
Jeni Webster
Affiliation:
5 Boroughs Partnership, Warrington
Mary V. Seeman
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Introduction

When a woman with a major psychiatric disorder becomes a parent, the path that lies ahead for her and her child can be very uncertain. While some mothers are able, despite their illness, to raise their children successfully, as many as 60% of mothers with major mental disorders relinquish or lose custody of their children (Coverdale & Aruffo, 1989; Miller & Finnerty, 1996). Some mothers in this situation provide intermittent parenting or coparenting (Caton et al., 1998) during the years of infancy, childhood and adolescence. Even when mother and child lose contact, each may continue to exert a profound emotional influence over the life of the other (Holley & Holley, 1997).

Intervening to alleviate parenting problems in mothers with major psychiatric disorders is recognized as a challenge to mental health providers (Nicholson & Blanch, 1994). This chapter provides an overview of clinical services and treatments that address serious parenting problems in mothers with major mental illness.

Approach to treatment

Components of a comprehensive evaluation

A comprehensive parenting evaluation is the cornerstone of treatment. It directly examines a mother's ability to read her child's cues, her ability to empathize with and understand the child as an individual, her cognitive understanding of development and childrearing, her ways of coping with stress, her ability to meet basic parenting tasks such as providing food, housing, and safety, and her skill in adjusting her behaviour to meet the changing needs of children as they grow (Jacobsen et al., 1997).

Keywords

clinical servicesmentally ill mothersmother-infant psychotherapyparenting problemspostpartum periodpsychiatric treatment
Type
Chapter
Information
Parental Psychiatric Disorder
Distressed Parents and their Families
 , pp. 112 - 122
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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