Daughters of Madness: Growing Up and Older With a Mentally Ill Mother

June was 9 years old when she came home from school and her schizophrenic mother met her at the door, angrily demanding to know, "Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house?" Tess's mother would wait outside church, then scream at family friends as they emerged, accusing them of spying and plotting to kill her. Five-year-old Tess and her 7-year-old brother would cry and beg their mother to take them home as onlookers stared. These are just two of the stories among dozens gathered for this book. The children, now adults, grew up with mentally ill mothers at a time when mental illness was even more stigmatizing than it is today. They are what Nathiel calls "the daughters of madness," and their young lives were lived on shaky ground. "Telling someone that there's mental illness in her family, and watching the reaction is not for the faint-hearted," the therapist says, quoting another's research. Nathiel adds, "Telling them it is your mother who's mentally ill certainly ups the ante." A veteran therapist with 35 years experience, Nathiel takes us into this traumatic world--each of her chanpters covering a major developmental period for the daughter of a mentally ill mother--and then explains how these now-adult daughters faced and coped with their mothers' illness.

Susan Nathiel is a psychotherapist treating individuals, couples and families. She has been in practice for more than 30 years, and has a special interest in helping families deal with problems. Nathiel is a Founding Member of the Connecticut Guild of Psychotherapists and Founding Member of the Center for Illness in Families.