Daughters of mothers

 Patrizia who is now 54 years old, reflects on the ups and downs of her difficult relationship with her sick mother over all of their lives - starting from early childhood, when Patrizia had to take on parts of the parent role until the death of her mother at the age of 74.  

Celine is the 26-year-old daughter of Magdalena, who is 51 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia when Celine was born. Her father also has mental health problems. Magdelana vividly describes how she always had to care for her parents, experiencing a reversal of the parent-child role, but she also learned that taking care of herself was essential for assisting her parents. 

Melina is 46 years old and the daughter of her 70-year-old mother Annetta who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when Melina was a baby. Melina describes her exhaustion due to her mother’s steady erratic and contradictory behaviour such as first alarming Melina for help, then rejecting it, later complaining that Melina is not doing the right things, and finally pretending that there had not been a problem at all. Melina also reflects about several ways how to get relief by looking more after herself.