Boursnell, M: The Silent Parent

The Silent Parent This book explores the experiences of parents with mental illness. The stories reflect the in-depth interviews with parents with mental illness alongside conversations about national and state mental health policies. Analysis of the interviews are assimilated to provide a clear picture of the troubled terrain faced by parents with mental illness. The narratives reveal stories of long-term mental health issues for parents with mental illness whose parenting role is largely unsupported. This book provides a greater understanding of how parents negotiate their parenting role within the context of socially prescribed notions, limited agency, and limited capacity due to a lack of support services for parents with mental illness. This book documents for the first time parenthood as lived by parents with mental illness, it also offers theories as to how the gaps in policies and services can be filled to support the ‘silent‘ parents whose parenthood is so often unacknowledged the lack of attention paid to their mental illness.