Endings and Beginnings: An Autoethnography of a Father’s Journey through His Son’s Madness, Loss, and a Quest for Meaning

Abstract

In our society, individuals with mental illness often are stigmatized due to misunderstanding and fear. Families with a member diagnosed as a person with mental illness may find themselves forced to restructure themselves around the idea that they are now coping with a family member who may be subject to social stigma and who may draw them into that same negative framework. In this autoethnographic story, I recall and describe the moment my relationship with my son changed forever—the moment he revealed his mental illness to me. This moment altered my own life course—from businessman, to academic, to wounded storyteller. Personally, transformative experiences like mine tend to create writers because we feel compelled to share our experiences in the form of stories. This is my story, but it could be the story of any parent and child in any family.