College - Author 1
College of Liberal Arts
Department - Author 1
Communication Studies Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BA in Communication Studies
Date
2-2026
Primary Advisor
Sasha Sanders, College of Liberal Arts, Communication Studies Department
Abstract/Summary
This critical autoethnography is an examination of my personal narrative on how growing up with a mother with mental illness formed my identity as a woman, and as a daughter. I utilize the lens of communication scholarship to understand the effects that this interpersonal relationship had on communication patterns, and ideology. Through personal, and societal analysis the discourse adds to how gendered expectations of womanhood, motherhood, family communication patterns, and dominant mental health rhetoric shape identity for daughters raised in the absence of maternal stability. I implore Family Systems Theory, Family Communication Patterns Theory, Muted Group Theory, and scholarship on femininity in order to analyze a pivotal moment interacting with my mother following her discharge from a state psychiatric hospital. This study argues how family communication patterns, blue-prints of womanhood, and previous research around mental illness intertwine to form my identity as a daughter navigating my mother’s absence due to mental illness. In my work I aim to humanize experiences with mental illness, critique institutional responses, and advocate for better awareness, compassion, and a reconstruction of mental health discourse.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/comssp/280
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons