Aim and objective.  The aim was to elucidate the meaning of major depression in family life from the viewpoint of an ill parent.

Background.  Major depression according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is common and may appear repeatedly over several years, and affects family life. Depression in parents has a negative impact on family function and children’s health; however, studies regarding the deeper understanding of major depression in family life are lacking.

Design.  A qualitative explorative study using narrative interviews with eight parents who were identified with major depression.

Methods.  A phenomenological-hermeneutic method of interpretation was used for analysing interview texts and included naïve understanding, a structural analysis where text was divided into meaning units, which were condensed and abstracted, and finally a comprehensive understanding.

Result.  Two themes were extracted: ‘to be afflicted in an almost unmanageable situation’ with sub-themes ‘feeling hopelessly bad’, ‘being worthless’, ‘being unsatisfied’ and the theme ‘to reconcile oneself to the situation’ with sub-themes ‘being active’, ‘being satisfied’ and ‘maintaining parenthood’.

Conclusion.  Comprehensive understanding revealed the parents’ simultaneous suffering and dignity in family life; suffering with serious lack of well-being and health, destroyed self-confidence and unhappiness, and dignity with strength, confidence and joy in children. The movement between suffering and dignity complicated family life. Dignity was threatened by the awareness that suffering in major depression was recurrent. Dignity had to be repeatedly restored for self and the family, and family dignity has to be restored before others outside the family circle.

Relevance to clinical practice.  A deeper understanding of the meaning of major depression in family life is helpful and for healthcare professionals to prevent individual and family suffering by assisting and preserving dignity.