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Depression As a Path to Change: An Adult Woman's Voice About Parenting Practices, Mental Health and Recovery

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Abstract

After Diane Baumrind described the parental styles, many authors have studied their impact on different dimensions of children's development and mental health at the age of adolescence. However, few studies have aimed to explore the impact of parental style on mental health in adulthood and the recovery process. The present study aims to fill this gap. The case presented in this paper is part of a body of forty life story interviews with Romanian immigrants. The choice of this case is justified by the complexity of the narrative and the fact that it best reflects the researched issues. This study presents how the authoritarian style manifested by the interviewee's parents, in an interdependence culture, influenced how she felt, thought and acted at different stages of her life course, until falling into depression. Also, the study presents the winding road of recovery from depression. An authoritarian parenting style, manifested in a family environment in which the interdependence of members is strongly promoted, can affect mental health, creating vulnerability to depression. Understanding the past seems to be the foundation for the beginning of a journey for the personal reconstruction of a new and dynamic sense of self, in the winding road of recovery.

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Funding

This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNCS/CCCDI – UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-ERC- 2016-0005 within PNCDI III.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, Journalism, Public Relations, and Sociology, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 2A, Lucian Blaga Street, 550169, Sibiu, Romania

    Anca Bejenaru

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  1. Anca Bejenaru
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Correspondence to Anca Bejenaru.

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The whole research was conducted with the approval of the Ethics Commission for Research in Social Sciences of the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu and respects national and international ethical standards in the field.

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The interviewee gave informed consent to participate in the research.

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Bejenaru, A. Depression As a Path to Change: An Adult Woman's Voice About Parenting Practices, Mental Health and Recovery. J. Psychosoc. Rehabil. Ment. Health 8, 11–18 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-020-00194-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40737-020-00194-5

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