Navigating stigmatized motherhood: self-stigma of single mothers with mental illness in Thailand

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on participant observations and in-depth interviews with twenty-two single mothers with mental illness and four medical workers from a psychiatric hospital in Thailand, this article analyses the self-stigma faced by single mothers with mental illness in Thai society. Using an intersectional approach and looking at motherhood as a social construct, the article 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. 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.