Birth Mothers and their Mental Health: Uncharted Territory

Correspondence to Janette Logan, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester Summary This article reports the findings of a study commissioned bythe Mental Health Foundation which examined the experiencesand needs of birth mothers who relinquished a child for adoption.Historically, birth mothers have been neglected in the Britishliterature; their experience is considered to have ended atthe time of placement. This research however, indicates thelong-term implications of relinquishment are severe—particularlyin relation to mental health. They demand that the complexityand uniqueness of relinquishment as a form of loss be more fullyunderstood, birth mothers' reactions to those experiences arenot pathologized and professionals learn to respond more positively.GP's in particular need to develop a more sensitive understandingof their needs and in so doing could prevent the medicalizationof some birth mothers.