Accounts of Being a Mother and a Healthcare Professional

Abstract

This work presents the results of a study involving healthcare professionals working in federal public hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which associates mental suffering with the dilemmas of reconciling the professional career with motherhood. This is a qualitative study that takes psychology as its theoretical and methodological framework and it is based on the analysis of the content of the stories of the working life of healthcare professionals, who took leave of absence from their work due to anxiety and / or depression. Two findings stand out from the analysis of the mental illness process: impeded work and hindered motherhood. this is a double impediment experienced by professional mothers that can have effects on their mental health, triggering suffering and ailment, and potentially the need to take leave of absence from work.