This book offers a new perspective on the motherhood experience. Drawing on existential philosophy and recent phenomenological research into motherhood, the book demonstrates how motherhood can be understood as an existential crisis. It argues that an awareness of the existential issues women face will enable mothers to gain a deeper understanding of the multifaceted aspects of their experience. The book is divided into four sections: Existential Crisis, Maternal Mental Health Crisis, Social Crisis and Working with Existential Crisis, where each section. Each chapter is based on either experiential research or the authors extensive therapeutic experience of working with mothers and reflects different aspects of the motherhood journey, all through the lens of a philosophical existential approach. The book is essential reading for mental health practitioners and researchers working with mothers, midwives and health visitors, but it is also written for mothers, with the aim to offer new insights on this important life transition.
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Part I Existential Crisis: The Philosophical Tensions of Being a Mother |
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1 Introduction: The Existential Crisis of Motherhood |
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3 | (14) |
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2 Confronting Existence: The Existential Dimensions of Becoming a Mother |
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17 | (20) |
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3 The Corporeal Dimensions of Motherhood |
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37 | (20) |
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4 Existential Responsibility of Motherhood |
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57 | (20) |
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5 The Existential Freedom of Mothers |
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77 | (16) |
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6 Engaging with Uncertainty and Unresolved Meanings During the Transition to Motherhood |
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93 | (22) |
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Part II Maternal Mental Health Crisis: Understanding Maternal Mental Health from an Existential Perspective |
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7 Through the Lens of Trauma: The Experience of Mothering a Very Premature Infant in the First Year After Hospital Discharge |
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115 | (18) |
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8 Postnatal Depression: An Existential Crisis? |
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133 | (22) |
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9 Maternal Postnatal Depression: The Fathers' Experience |
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155 | (22) |
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Part III Social Crisis: An Existential Understanding of the Impact on Motherhood of Social and Cultural Aspects |
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10 Identity and Mothering: The Second Generation of Ghanaian Migrants |
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177 | (22) |
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11 Motherhood and the Traumatic Death of One's Child |
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199 | (22) |
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12 Trying to "Have-It-All" at 30; Timing Motherhood |
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221 | (20) |
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13 The Experience of Being a Childfree Woman |
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241 | (18) |
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Part IV Working with Existential Crisis in Clinical Practice |
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14 Exploring the Moods of First Time Mothers Through Imagery |
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259 | (22) |
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15 Existential Group Work with Mothers |
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281 | (16) |
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16 Conclusion: The Courage to Be |
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297 | (8) |
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Index |
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305 | |
Claire Arnold-Baker is a counselling psychologist and existential psychotherapist specialising in working with mothers. She is also Course Leader of the DCPsych Programme, a joint programme with The New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling and Middlesex University, UK.