Parenting and Mental Illness: A Group for Mothers

Parenting and Mental illness Popular conceptions of motherhood tend to exclude considerations of mental illness; nevertheless, women with mental illness do become pregnant and care for their children, a finding consistent across major diagnostic groups. Sixty-seven percent of women meeting criteria for severe and persistent mental illness over a 12-month period are mothers (Hinden et al., 2005). Most mothers living with mental illness and caring for their children describe motherhood as rewarding and central to their lives, but also report it as a difficult subject to discuss with their mental health providers (Diaz-Caneja and Johnson, 2004). Families in which a mother has mental illness are families that may face multiple challenges. Mothers are at risk of psychiatric hospitalizations and child welfare involvement that may create separations and disruptions. Mothers living with mental illness are also more likely to be raising a child without a partner (Mowbray et al., 2001). Children with a mother with a mental illness have higher rates of psychiatric diagnosis and other psychosocial problems than children with mothers without mental illness (Hinden et al., 2005). Existing services aimed at addressing parenting are primarily deficit-based, and most often available only in crisis (Hinden et al., 2005). Preventive interventions are rare and often withdrawn when the immediate crisis has resolved (Diaz-Caneja and Johnson, 2004).