Through the depths and heights of darkness; mothers as patients in psychiatric care

Abstract

Introduction This study attempts to contribute to the knowledge of caring science and mental health care by means of a profound understanding of the patients' existential world when being a mother in receipt of psychiatric care, with focus on inner processes such as health and suffering. Mothers struggle to cope with the demands of the illness and the responsibility for their children. They see themselves through their children and regard the child as an important part of themselves. Mothers experience guilt and shame related to motherhood, and when they have to relinquish their responsibility as a mother, they consider themselves a failure. Despite a range of practical and emotional difficulties, motherhood involved extremely positive experiences, which provide a purpose as well as fulfilment and meaning in life. Methodology This study is rooted in philosophical hermeneutics inspired by Gadamer with an inductive‐deductive‐abductive approach. Interpretation of the data was made on different levels of abstraction described as rational, contextual, existential and ontological. The point of departure was the caring science theory about health and suffering and the hermeneutic philosophy of understanding. Result of the interpretation The interpretation revealed the mothers' experiences of health and suffering as a struggle between the darkness of suffering and their inner source of strength. In the light of the theory of caring, the conscience became visible as the bearer of the human being's inner ethos of love and compassion. Experiences of health and suffering were interpreted as a struggle between guilt and responsibility, where conscience emerged as the road from ontological guilt to responsibility that leads the human being to what is true, beautiful and good in life.

Longing – a dynamic power in the becoming of health when suffering from cancer

“…It was experienced to be more fruitful when health professionals asked about longing for the future rather than focusing on coping in persons on sick leave . Similar results were found in patients with mental health problems , spinal injury , muscular dystrophy and coronary bypass surgery .…”

Psychiatric Diagnosis in a Woman’s Personal Narrative: Possibilities of Semiotic Analysis

“…(Mary) Thus, one can say that motherhood appears to be an important element in her personal synthesis, providing her with some ontological security, this vital yearning for an experience of the world and existence itself, as endowed with order, justification, and meaning (Peters 2014, p.21). This assumption agrees with the results of the studies produced by Carteado (2008); Blegen et al (2014); Perera et al (2015);and Carvalho et al (2007). These authors stated that, for women with a psychiatric diagnosis, maternity appears as a normalizing achievement of adult life, making it possible for these subjects to be de-alienated in relation to the restrictions imposed by the stigma of madness.…”

The theory of caritative caring: Katie Eriksson’s theory of caritative caring presented from a human science point of view

“…In respect of subject range, Eriksson's theory is used, for example, in intercultural caring (Wikberg, Eriksson, & Bondas, 2012), caring for patients suffering from addiction (Thorkildsen, Eriksson, & Råholm, 2015), the importance of aesthetic surroundings (Caspari, Eriksson, & Nåden, 2011), providing ethically good care for older people (Frilund, Eriksson, & Fagerström, 2014), caring and technology (Korhonen, Nordman & Eriksson, 2014) and mothers as patients in psychiatric care (Blegen, Eriksson, & Bondas, 2014). In these articles, Eriksson's ideas of ethics, caring and suffering are highlighted in various clinical contexts.…”