Below the parapet: a phenomenological exploration of adult inter-personal relationships for individuals who grew up with a sibling with a severe mental illness

Siblings of those with severe mental health illness (SMI) have long been overlooked in research and, what interest there has been, seems to have been borne out of the desire to establish how best to engage them in providing care and support for their mentally ill brother or sister when their parents are no longer able to. The present study looks beyond this to how siblings themselves may have been impacted by their childhoods and what support they may need outside of any caregiving role. In particular, the current study focuses on how their childhood experiences may impact their inter-personal relationships in adulthood. Six adult participants gave accounts of their experiences, participating in semistructured interviews. The interview transcripts were then analysed, using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate themes are identified: The Stabiliser, The “Me,” The “I” and Surviving and Striving. The superordinate themes explore the experiences of the participants in regards to self and relationships. Many of the siblings in this study display signs of chronic anxiety and insecure avoidant attachment style. In addition, they display a very real difficulty in holding compassion for themselves, having recognition of their needs or managing conflictual situations. Furthermore, an entirely new finding has come out of this research, that these siblings display signs of defence mechanisms of binary thinking, omnipotent control and the creation of a false-self. The present study draws on attachment theory, parentification and post traumatic growth, to highlight clinical and research implications for Counselling Psychology. These include suggestions for supporting siblings in addressing their own suffering in order to restore trust in themselves, in their inter-personal relationships and in the life process itself.