Navigating Motherhood: Stigma and Mothering Experiences of Single Mothers with Mental Illness in Thailand

Drawing on participant observations and in-depth interviews with 22 single mothers with mental illness, as well as 8 family members and 4 medical workers from a psychiatric hospital in Thailand, this study seeks to understand the self-stigma and family stigma faced by single mothers with mental illness and their different mothering experiences in Thai society. Using an intersectional approach and looking at motherhood as a social construct, the study shows the connections of intersectional stigma with single motherhood and mental illness, and demonstrates its relation to gender, class, ethnicity, religion, and other identity markers within the Thai socio-cultural context. Despite experiencing varying degrees of stigmatization, single mothers with mental illness attempted to navigate their motherhood and fulfill their gender-specific obligations and expectations. This study develops a threefold typology to describe their mothering experiences: attempted mothering experience, absentee mothering experience, and failed mothering experience. Findings from the research suggest that the current gender ideology, which shapes the stigmatized mothering experiences of single mothers with mental illness in Thailand, needs to be revisited and reformed by individuals, medical workers, and the state at every level.