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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2009 Connection, Caretaking, and Conflict: The Recalled, Lived Experience of Adultdaughters of Bipolar Mothers Louise Ribeiro Presley Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Presley, Louise Ribeiro, "Connection, Caretaking, and Conflict: The Recalled, Lived Experience of Adultdaughters of Bipolar Mothers" (2009). Dissertations. 260. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/260 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2009 Louise Ribeiro Presley LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO CONNECTION, CARETAKING, AND CONFLICT: THE RECALLED LIVED EXPERIENCE OF ADULT DAUGHTERS OF BIPOLAR MOTHERS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK BY LOUISE RIBEIRO PRESLEY CHICAGO, IL AUGUST 2009 Copyright by Louise R. Presley, 2009 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I applied to Loyola’s School of Social Work to learn how to research, write, and share my ideas by publishing them. The faculty of the School has allowed me to fulfill my intentions and still encourages me. There are too many to thank individually, but Dr. Marcia Spira has always helped me with issues about mothers and daughters. She became member of my committee. Dr James Marley has guided my early efforts at research and also became a committee member. Dr. Randolph Lucente saw me into the School as the Director of the Doctoral Program and saw me out as my committee chairperson. When the size of my project overwhelmed me he pointed the way. He has been positive, creative, and encouraging from the very beginning of my student career at Loyola University Chicago. I thank Dr. David Moxley, at Wayne State University in Detroit, who set me on the exciting road of learning to do qualitative research, and Dr Anna Santiago, who led me through the Behavioral Investigation Committee process for my pilot study. Dr. Jerrold Brandell, also from Wayne State, suggested a doctorate from Loyola, convinced me I was not too old to do it, and encouraged me to talk to Dr. Lucente. Thank you also to Margaret Arnd-Caddigan, Ph.D. and Pamela DeWeese, MSW who tolerated my inexperience while testing the reliability of my coding. iiiiv I owe an enormous debt of gratitude for the contribution of an anonymous dear friend who inspired my topic. She was my first reader and a kind critic. She, her family, and other close friends, Miriam Berenstein, Jo-Ann Terry, and Frank Steiner, remained caring and supportive through long years of my reduced availability. Friends at Eastwood Clinics and Counseling Associates covered for me when I was in Chicago, supported my efforts, and shared their love and knowledge. Angela Fadragas and Margaret Arnd-Caddigan have shared with me the ups and downs of being a student, and Margaret went before me into an academic life. My participants persisted through multiple, then long interviews. I hope they see parts of this dissertation in print some day soon. My daughter Laurie Kerlin gave me a real home when I was in Chicago before I moved here; and has given endless support, excellent commentary and advice over some very difficult years. My husband Jim has gone alone to so many places while I struggled at my computer. He has shopped, cooked, listened, and questioned, made me laugh, helped me with PDF, and ignored what neither of us had time to do. The unfailing love of my daughter and my husband sustains me as I move into a new career. iv For my family, Laurie Kerlin and James Presley. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES viii ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Topic 1 Purpose 4 Rationale for this Paper in the Light of the Social Work Knowledge Base 6 Pilot Study 7 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 9 Demographics/Epidemiology 9 Psychodynamic Views of Families with a Bipolar Parent 11 Family Systems Views of Families with Bipolar Parents 16 Research on Problems of Children in Bipolar Families 23 A Relational view of Development 28 Resilience 37 Memory: Recall of Childhood Stressors (Not exclusively trauma) 42 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH PLAN 49 Potential Significance 49 Rationale for a Qualitative Method 49 Strategy 52 Variables and Implications of Key Definitions for Data Collection 56 Problem Formulation 60 Research Design 60 Site or Population Selection 70 Trustworthiness 82 Data Analysis 88 Limitations 89 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS 90 Childhood before First Grade 90 The Grade School Years 92 The High School Years 97 The Late Teens and Twenties 101 Recalled Recent Events 110 Meaning of Maternal Relationship 121 Anything Else about the Meaning of your Relationship with your Mother? 126 vi CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 131 Introduction 131 Role reversals 131 Conflict 139 Care and Conflict in Recent Events 144 Meaning of Maternal Relationship 156 Is There Anything Else you want to Say about the Meaning of your Relationship with Your Mother? 182 Conclusion 188 APPENDIX A: APPROVAL DOCUMENTS & LETTERS OF SUPPORT IN DATE ORDER 193 APPENDIX B: MEMO TO THERAPISTS 199 APPENDIX C: LETTER TO HOSPITAL SOCIAL WORKERS & DISCHARGE PLANNERS 202 APPENDIX D: NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT 205 APPENDIX E: PARTICIPANT BROCHURE 207 APPENDIX F: TELEPHONE SCREENING TOOL 210 APPENDIX G: LETTER TO VOLUNTEERS NOT SELECTED FOR PARTICIPATION 213 APPENDIX H: RESEARCHER’S CLINICAL QUALIFICATIONS 215 APPENDIX I: BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH INFORMED CONSENT 222 APPENDIX J: LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO & ST JOHN HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH INFORMED CONSENT 229 APPENDIX K: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET AND QUESTIONAIRE 236 APPENDIX L: INTERVIEW GUIDE 240 REFERENCES 253 VITA 261 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Demographics 80 2. Living Situations before First Grade 91 3. Recalled Events from Grade School Years 93 4. Negative Feelings in the Grade School Years 95 5. Positive feelings in the Grade School Years 96 6. Recalled events in the High School Years 97 7. Helpers during High School Years 98 8. Meaning in the High School Years-References 100 9. Meaning in High School Years-Interpretations 100 10. Significant Life Changes 101 11. Role Reversals 102 12. Change in Mother’s Behavior 103 13. Relationship Connections and Disconnections 103 14. Projections and Internalizations 105 15. Emotional and Financial Support between Mother and Daughter 106 16. Maternal Betrayals 107 17. Reported Chemical Abuse and Chemical Dependency 107 18. Helpers in Late Teens and Twenties 108 viii 19. Meanings in Daughter’s Relationship with Mother 109 20. Mother’s Negative Behavior 111 21. Mother’s Positive Behavior 112 22. Quality of Relationship 113 23. Daughters’ Feelings 114 24. Recalled Recent Events with Mother that Involved Partners 115 25. Recalled Recent Events with Mother that Involved Children 116 26. Recalled Recent Events with Mother that Involved Family Members: Positive Events 117 27. Recalled Recent Events with Mother that Involved Family Members: Negative Events 119 28. Recalled Recent Events with Mother that Involved Work or Career 120 29. Meaning of Maternal Relationship to Identity 121 30. Meaning of Maternal Relationship to Partner Relationship 122 31. Meaning of Maternal Relationship to Parental Relationship 123 32. Daughter’s Understanding of how Extended Family Sees Her 123 33. Daughter’s View of Extended Family 124 34. The Meaning of the Maternal Relationship to Work or Career 125 35. Love and Compassion 126 36. Closeness and Distance 126 37. Conflict and Reconciliation 127 38. Anger and Acceptance 127 39. Control Issues 128 ix 40. Positive Outcomes 128 41. Negative Outcomes 129 42. The Future 130 x ABSTRACT At present in the United States approximately four million people (one and six tenths percent) suffer from Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorders. Twenty percent of bipolar persons are not helped by medication. Each bipolar person has two parents, and may have siblings, friends, spouses, and children. All of these people are affected by the feelings and behavior of the bipolar person. The children are particularly vulnerable to behavior disorders, depression and anxiety, even if protective factors mitigate the family situation. This qualitative research addresses the events recalled by adult daughters whose mothers are bipolar: what they recalled of what they thought, felt, and did in response. Events from early childhood to the time of the interview were explored. Seidman’s phenomenological interview series was the model for the interview, both in the pilot study and later when it was modified into one long interview as suggested by McCracken. This study was not retrospective. It focused on the daughters’ recollections and how these affected their development, their relationships, and their work or careers. The transcripts from the two pilot study participants interviewed in two-thousand- two were included as archival material and analyzed with the transcripts from the two thousand-five interviews with the dissertation participants. The pilot study participants were recruited from a clinical setting. One dissertation participant heard about the study by word of mouth. The others responded to a newspaper advertisement. Two were twenty xi five, two were in their early fifties, and the rest were between thirty four and thirty nine. Two were African American, one was biracial. The remaining seven came from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. The data was analyzed using N’Vivo. It enabled comparison of themes from each life stage addressed in the interviews. These themes were recorded in forty-one tables. The most populated and enduring were role reversal, beginning in early childhood, and conflict, beginning in the high school years.

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