Nurturing Maternal Subjectivity Through Feminism and In-Depth Psychology

In both developmental psychology and psychoanalysis, emphasis on the mother has tended to be less about maternal subjectivity, and more about scrutiny of the mother as attachment object. Mother-infant observation and relational psychology have helped bring maternal subjectivity into view through emphasis on the dyadic aspects of development. Our seminar for clinicians will begin with a feminist-critical review of this history. Then, we will consider ways of listening for mothering identities and maternal subjectivity across the lifespan of adult clients. Specifically, through clinical examples and seminar participation, we will attune to client’s histories with fertility, pregnancy, mothering, abortion, and changing bodies to better understand mothering identities in our present-moment clinical encounters. While the main emphasis is on female-identified clients, listening for maternal subjectivity has implications across genders that will be useful for all clinicians.