118

Conclusion In conclusion, formulated themes and subthemes describe the lived experiences of young adult with bipolar mother. The first theme is growing up with mentally ill mothers, it includes 3 subthemes in which greatly discuss the descriptions of informants experiences in relationship with their mother, with their family and extended family and with the periods of manic and depressed situation of their mother. And the first subtheme is Mother and child, which discusses the relationship of the mentally ill mother and a child regarding the fulfillment of the developmental needs of a child. The second subtheme is Living in family with bipolar mother, in this area it shows that the family can be affected in various ways, emotions changes as they learn to adopt in the terms of having a bipolar mother. Third subtheme is Periods of ups and downs, it discusses what are common moods, behaviors and changes in daily functioning of their mother, where it tackles also how does changes from manic episodes to depress modes affects the experiences of the child. The second main theme is the social life, where it mainly tackles about the social relation of the children with their family, significant others and other persons such as friends. It includes also who are the accessible ones in listening on their concerns and feeling about the situation and what kind of support they get from the family member and extended families. The first subtheme is Family support system in which it shows how family members support each other

119

whether financially or emotionally and how the extended family expresses their support towards a mentally ill member of the family. Second subtheme is Emotional Escape, describe the adult experiences on how they express their feelings of hardships, hurts, anger and frustrations. It shows also that they handpick the closest friends, other members of the family and members of religious society in whom they voluntarily expressed or vent out about the situations. The last subtheme is Getting along, it shows that they must need to consider all the condition and a lot of things about their mother in choosing friends or partners. It includes that a person must understand the situation and from that the adult experiences shows difficulty in maintaining their relationships. Third is the Childhood experiences growing up with bipolar mother. First subtheme is Chaos, it anchored towards informants experiences such as violence when their mother is in manic phase which exhibit aggressive behavior. The second subtheme is the Emotions felt as a child, it depicts about how the young adults felt when they where a child when their mother is been diagnosed with bipolar and how they perceived it. The third is the Childhood constraints, in this it shows experiences of the young adult individual in which they had been deprived of the normal childhood experiences and developmental task. The fourth main theme is the Transition to Adulthood, it primarily discusses the obligations and responsibilities of the young adult at the early age, difficulties and challenges that they had faced, the response to the condition and how they view what others think of them due to the situation. The first subtheme is the Young Caretakers. It primarily shows how the obligations and

120

responsibilities of the mother as well as the role have been reversed. It also tackles the responsibilities and obligations that are felt at the early stages of life. The second subtheme is the Conflict and challenges, it describes what are the different difficulties and challenges that were faced or they are facing right now because of a member of a family that has a bipolar illness. Conformation is the third subtheme, which greatly deals on how the young adults cope with the situation. It describes their various experiences of ways in adapting to the situation and different ways that they used to solve their problem regarding the condition. The fourth subtheme is the Verdict that depicts the informants judgment of themselves, reflecting the fear of social stigma that they are challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that result from misconceptions of the mental illness that having a mentally challenged mother can be transmitted immediately to them which can lead to avoidance and hostility by other people. The last main theme is the Moment of Internalization which includes six subthemes such as first, the regrets, in this, the thoughts of the informants in possibilities or perception on how they think their life or the family lives would be if their mother is not affected by the disorder. The second subtheme is the Perceived Weakness, different causes of weakness is describe whether attitudes, feelings or scenarios being left by a family member. Third is Love and compassion, it discusses actions in showing their love and compassion to the mother. The consideration that they give because of giving back the things their mother has done to them before. The fourth is the spirituality mainly shows how they recognize God as their Saviour and connect unto Him by any means and

121

not forgetting to pray for the wellness of their mother, their love ones and heal them not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually. And it includes how young adult put their spiritual beliefs into actions. The fifth is Optimism and Hope where the young adult express and perceived positive outcomes and believe that it will be happen in the future. The last subtheme is the Aspirations, it includes the young adults strong desire in life to achieved something, for the better future. Therefore, as the young adults verbalized their unique experiences, the researchers concluded that the life of young adult with bipolar mother is greatly affected by the situation from childhood stages which many of them suffers from violence due to the behaviour of their mother, they were deprived from what was the typical activity of a normal child and the loved that was supposed to be given to them was not met. They expressed maturity, taking responsibility and obligation at an early stage. The situation of having a bipolar mother is

connected in having an stigma the community, therefore young adults choose who are the one supposed to be their friends and it greatly deals with how the individual choose their partners in life, in this event they need to prioritized the quality or the attitude that person in how they understood the condition of their mother. The study also shows how the adult cope with the situation and their challenges in life ,others do scape goating, others through some functional and positive coping mechanism. Young adults do have support system like their other sibling, the extended family and their friends in which they vent out the feelings in every problem that they had faced and that they also have their own source of strength such as their child and mostly God. On the other side, acceptance of

122

the situation is present in every young adult and that they are not losing hope that their mother will be cured, and eventhough they had suffer from many hardships, they do still love their mother and they do showed it in everyday living with her.