Being A Mother On Medication

As a first time mom, I’ve taken a lot of grief from people about how I choose to parent my daughter. As a single mom, I’ve taken a lot of grief from people about my daughter not having a father. When my daughter was born, I expected people to have their opinions about those two things, especially about me being a single mom because of the stereotype attached to it. But, one thing I never thought I would be given grief over is being a mom who takes medication for her mental health.

Luckily, I have yet to encounter someone giving me grief over being a mom who takes medication, but I chose to write about it anyway because I have just recently realized that there is a huge stigma that surrounds mothers who take medication for their mental health. This stigma, like any stigma, is wrong and unfair and needs to be squandered.

To get right to it, my main question is this:

What is the difference between the mother who drinks a bottle of wine every night when the kids are in bed and the mother who takes an anti-anxiety medication every morning?

Mothers drinking wine is celebrated; it’s plastered all over Facebook in memes and statuses. It’s “understandable” that a mother would need to drink some wine at the end of the day, because of the stressful day she had mothering. So why is it not understandable that a mother would need anti-anxiety medication or an antidepressant to take care of her mental health? I just don’t get it. We essentially encourage mothers to drink and shame others who take mental health medication, when in reality, drinking could be deemed worse.

I seriously just don’t get it. We shame mothers for taking mental health medication when they are taking it so that they are at their best for their children. Mothers who need medication for their mental health are literally doing what is best for them and their families. An unmedicated mental illness can be dangerous to the mother who suffers from it and can be detrimental to her family, as well.

I take several medications to manage my mental disorders, and I do so because I love myself and my daughter. Without my medications, my emotions would be all over the place, and because of the thoughts that accompany me not being medicated, myself and my daughter would not be safe. Basically, my medication makes me less likely to hurt myself or someone else. So, isn’t it a good thing that I take medication for my mental health? Shouldn’t that be celebrated?

There is nothing wrong with being a mother on medication, and if you are reading this as a mother who has been shamed for it, I want you to know that the stigma is wrong and unfair and you don’t deserve to be shamed for doing what is best for you and your family.