Abstract
After Diane Baumrind described the parental styles, many authors have studied their impact on different dimensions of children’s development and mental health at the age of adolescence. However, few studies have aimed to explore the impact of parental style on mental health in adulthood and the recovery process. The present study aims to fill this gap. The case presented in this paper is part of a body of forty life story interviews with Romanian immigrants. The choice of this case is justified by the complexity of the narrative and the fact that it best reflects the researched issues. This study presents how the authoritarian style manifested by the interviewee’s parents, in an interdependence culture, influenced how she felt, thought and acted at different stages of her life course, until falling into depression. Also, the study presents the winding road of recovery from depression. An authoritarian parenting style, manifested in a family environment in which the interdependence of members is strongly promoted, can affect mental health, creating vulnerability to depression. Understanding the past seems to be the foundation for the beginning of a journey for the personal reconstruction of a new and dynamic sense of self, in the winding road of recovery.