The perinatal and early years experience of motherhood in the context of borderline personality disorder

Abstract

This study explored the perinatal and early years experience of motherhood in the context of borderline personality disorder. This is considered to be an under-researched area. This qualitative study adopts an interpretative phenomenological approach. Six mothers having children from 12 months to 5 years were interviewed in-depth. The emerging themes revealed the mothers' childhood experiences of trauma and abuse in the family of origin in the context of a patriarchal belief system. The participants struggled with mental health issues, including suicidal ideations. Healthier coping skills were adopted through therapeutic support and reparative emotional experiences. Yet, mothers struggled between adopting a reparative and replicative script in parenting. Mothers' experienced dissatisfying couple relationships and wished to find a partner who demonstrated love in their regard. Motherhood was viewed as an emotional experience. Bonding with the baby was sometimes challenging due to the unstable relationship status and limited support. These findings were interpreted through a systemic conceptual framework, including attachment, narrative and a socioconstructionist approach. This study emphasizes the importance of adopting early intervention therapeutic support in a systemic manner to best support the mother-baby dyad as well as the familial relationships.