Perceptions and Needs of Parents during a Young Adult's First Psychiatric Hospitalization: “We're All on This Little Island and We're Going to Drown Real Soon”

Abstract

A young person's first psychiatric hospitalization can present a crisis for the family. This initial contact with the mental health care system and health care providers, whether positive or negative, has the potential to set the foundation for all future interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a young person's first hospitalization on his or her parents and to determine the parents' perspectives on their own emotional and practical support needs. Ten parents (nine mothers and one father) of a young person aged 18 to 25 were recruited through local support groups and by snowball sampling. Based on Aguilera and Messick's (1986) crisis theory, participants were asked about their perception of the event, coping methods they used, and support systems they engaged while their adult child was hospitalized. Six themes were identified: feeling relief about receiving a diagnosis; shock and disbelief associated with the diagnosis of a mental illness; isolation associated with the stigma of mental illness; feeling excluded during the discharge process; and grieving for the loss associated with an altered future. The results revealed that participants received their support from family, friends, and support groups and did not find mental health care providers to be helpful or supportive. The participants provided recommendations for those who work with families experiencing the crisis of a first psychiatric hospitalization.

Brief Report: The Impact of Changing from DSM-IV ‘Asperger’s’ to DSM-5 ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ Diagnostic Labels on Stigma and Treatment Attitudes

“…On the one hand, it acts as a pathway for treatment access, validation and feelings of relief (Clarke and Winsor 2010); on the other, it may assume absolute boundaries where none exist, and promote categorical thinking (Widiger and Samuel 2005). Our results indicate that apprehension about the public's negative reactions to an ASD rather than an Asperger's label should not deter parents from help-seeking.…”

Parents’ Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Psychiatric Labels for ADHD and Depression

“…This implies that parents experience highly stigmatizing reactions when they encounter a child with symptoms of ADHD or depression; telling the parents that the child "has ADHD" or "has depression" has a small effect in furthering these stigmas. These findings suggest that the small increase in stigma arising from attaching a psychiatric label to symptoms may well be outweighed by the benefits that psychiatric diagnoses can provide, namely, treatment access, validation, and feelings of relief (6).…”

“…Parents are not alone in these concerns; in fact, trepidation about psychiatric labels is common among professionals and the lay public, and it underlies most antipsychiatry movements (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). The belief that diagnostic labels cause stigma is concerning because seeking a diagnosis is an important step that often provides validation, treatment access, and feelings of relief (6). However, a critical lack of research makes it difficult to evaluate concerns about the use of psychiatric labels to diagnose children with mental health problems (7).…”

Transition-Age Children With Mental Illness: Hearing the Voices of Mothers

“…Mother-blaming by professionals has been identified as a reason for dissatisfaction with services and as a cause for dropping out of services (Sommerfeld, 1989;Jackson & Mannix, 2004;Medina & Magnuson, 2009). Similarly, dissatisfaction with service providers was found by two research studies focused on parental perceptions of service delivery for their transition-age child (Jivanjee, Kruzich & Gordon, 2009;Clarke & Winsor, 2010). Both research studies described parents as actively engaged in their child's care while being dissatisfied with either the health services offered or the health service providers.…”

“…These two studies underscore the negative impact of isolation, marginalization, and invisibility that were identified by parents as a result of not being treated well by the health care system. At the same time, these studies emphasize how actively the parents are involved and want to collaborate with professionals regarding their transition-age child (Clarke & Winsor, 2010;Jivanjee et al 2009). …”