Narrative Study in Young Adult Offspring of Parents with Bipolar Disorder

Background: Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness which often results in family’s burden. More attentions have been paid to the psychosocial adjustment of patients’ offspring because symptoms often deteriorate the family function and patients’ parenting practice. However, we know little about the offspring’s experiences of how they perceived and adjust with their parent’s illness.

Purpose:  This study aimed to explore young adult offspring of parents with bipolar disorder about how their lives are influenced by their parents’ mental illness, how they perceived their parent’s illness, how they healed their suffering, how they learnt about the positive experiences of living with their parent’s illness.

Methods:   This study adopted qualitative method with interviewing 20 young adult (20-40 years old) offspring of bipolar patient. Through the narrative analysis method, the interviewed verbatim text are organized by the themes of offspring’s experience.

Results: It is an ongoing study. This preliminary result has shown some themes including: I should keep quiet when father or mother got mad, no one tell me the reason why father or mother get hospitalized , suffering from the childhood, struggle to leave parent’s home, having more perseverance to face stressed situation in adulthood.

Conclusion:  This preliminary result helps us to develop the nursing intervention program for offspring of patients with bipolar disorder based on understanding their experience of suffering and healing among young adult offspring of bipolar patient.