Daughters of Madness

This book tells the stories of adults who grew up as children of mentally ill mothers at a time when mental illness was even more stigmatizing than it is today. They are what the author calls "the daughters of madness," and in their young lives there were forced to tread on shaky ground. "Telling so [...]
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This book tells the stories of adults who grew up as children of mentally ill mothers at a time when mental illness was even more stigmatizing than it is today. They are what the author calls "the daughters of madness," and in their young lives there were forced to tread on shaky ground. "Telling someone that there's mental illness in your family, and watching the reaction is not for the faint-hearted," says the therapist. "Telling them that it is your mother who's mentally ill certainly ups the ante." A veteran therapist with 35 years experience, the author takes us into this traumatic world - each of her chapters covering a major developmental period for the daughter of a mentally ill mother - and then explains how these now-adult daughters faced and cope with mental illness in their mothers. While the stories of these daughters are central to the book, the author also offers her professional insights into exactly how maternal impairment affects infants, children and adolescents. Women, significantly more than men, are often diagnosed with serious mental illness after they become parents.So what effect does a mentally ill mother have on a growing child, teenager or adult daughter, who looks to her not only for the deepest and most abiding love, but also a sense of what the world is all about? The author also makes accessible the latest research on interpersonal neurobiology, attachment and the way a child's brain and mind develop in the context of that relationship. Some of the major topics addressed include: feelings of guilt in the child - 'Is it my fault?'; keeping the secret; role reversal - when child acts as parent; fear of the same fate; building resilience and accepting help; and, insights from daughters of mothers who were schizophrenic, psychotic, severely depressed, paranoid and personality-disordered.