Author Description

When the mother of young children is admitted to a mental hospital, she and her family undergo a series of emotional strains: the sudden disappearance of the mother cannot be explained to the children; the provision of "surrogate care" for the children is inadequate; and the mother often feels guilt or shame about abandoning them. With these problems in mind, Henry Grunebaum and Justin L. Weiss initiated tne Joint Admission Project at the Massachusetts Health Center. Mentally ill mothers werefor the first time in the United States-admitted to hospitals with their infants or preschool children. Mental/y tif Mothers and Their Children describes the development and the findings of this project which used the resources of psychiatry, psychology, psychiatrie nursing, social work, and pediatrics. Drs. Grunebaum and Weiss describe the first joint admission of mother and child, presenting the impact of this novel treatment program on the mother, the c'hild, and the other patients. Clinical and administrative guidelines are provided for others wishing to start such programs. Carol R. Hartman discusses psychiatrie nursing perspectives on the treatment of mentally ill mothers both in the hospital and at home. David H. Gallant evaluates the children of psychotic mothers in the joint admission project and compares them to children raised by surrogate mothers. Bertram J. Cohler considers the relationship between maternai personality and child rearing in terms of a psychological study of mentally ill and healthy mothers. The final section, by ail five authors, discusses psychological decomposition in early motherhood and the characteristics of women who are vulnerable to it and who respond well to this innovative treatment program. HENRY GRUNEBAUM is director of Studies in Population and the Family and associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is senior psychiatrist at the Cambridge Hospital and the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. JUSTIN L. WEIS