The Mother in Psychoanalysis and Beyond

"The mothering that, one way and another, informs psychoanalytic treatment- and the mothers that haunt psychoanalytic theory- have been, perhaps unsurprisingly, difficult to write well about. In these remarkably illuminating and various essays, that are unusually both evocative and informative, we begin to get a new sense of what it might be to write about the so-called maternal without sentimentality or the rigours of abstraction. This is a more than useful and telling collection of writings."-Adam Phillips, psychoanalyst and writer.

"This is where psychoanalysis meets existential reality, when mothers describe their deeply felt experience allowing us to move from mythology and theory to the everyday reality of the rawness of the mothering experience"-Professor Emmy van Deurzen, Principal New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling.

"This is an extraordinary book. The editors, highly respected thinkers and psychoanalysts, have generated a remarkable collection of contributions by a diverse and impressive group of contributors who address one of the most central questions that therapists of all persuasions must ponder: what does it really mean to be a mother, and how have the relationships all of us experienced with our own mothers affected who we are as human beings? This book should be required reading for every therapist, whatever their orientation. A stunning achievement!"-M. Guy Thompson, author of The Death of Desire: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness, Second Edition, also by Routledge.

"This is a brilliant book of enormous value to anyone with an interest in the origins and outcomes of our most complex, ambivalent and enriching relationship. My mother died at Easter and I have found here a handbook to understand the contradictions of mothering. How to reconcile the intimacy of growing inside another human being, to the stranger that she and maybe we all become to our daughters and sons. It is a courageous, intellectually prescient, and unhesitating look at the schism between the truth and dreams of motherhood. There are passages of great beauty and emotion. Read it."-Belona Greenwood, journalist, scriptwriter and Founder and Co-organiser of Words and Women.

“The book enters fearlessly into the disputatious territory of psychoanalysis in a refreshingly plural, panoramic and maternal manner, making it a valuable resource for both trainees and advanced practitioners.” - Dr. Paul Caviston, Consultant Psychiatrist, The Child and Adolescent Practice.

"The mothering that, one way and another, informs psychoanalytic treatment- and the mothers that haunt psychoanalytic theory- have been, perhaps unsurprisingly, difficult to write well about. In these remarkably illuminating and various essays, that are unusually both evocative and informative, we begin to get a new sense of what it might be to write about the so-called maternal without sentimentality or the rigours of abstraction. This is a more than useful and telling collection of writings."-Adam Phillips, psychoanalyst and writer.

"This is where psychoanalysis meets existential reality, when mothers describe their deeply felt experience allowing us to move from mythology and theory to the everyday reality of the rawness of the mothering experience"-Professor Emmy van Deurzen, Principal New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling.

"This is an extraordinary book. The editors, highly respected thinkers and psychoanalysts, have generated a remarkable collection of contributions by a diverse and impressive group of contributors who address one of the most central questions that therapists of all persuasions must ponder: what does it really mean to be a mother, and how have the relationships all of us experienced with our own mothers affected who we are as human beings? This book should be required reading for every therapist, whatever their orientation. A stunning achievement!"-M. Guy Thompson, author of The Death of Desire: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness, Second Edition, also by Routledge

"This is a brilliant book of enormous value to anyone with an interest in the origins and outcomes of our most complex, ambivalent and enriching relationship. My mother died at Easter and I have found here a handbook to understand the contradictions of mothering. How to reconcile the intimacy of growing inside another human being, to the stranger that she and maybe we all become to our daughters and sons. It is a courageous, intellectually prescient, and unhesitating look at the schism between the truth and dreams of motherhood. There are passages of great beauty and emotion. Read it."-Belona Greenwood, journalist, scriptwriter and Founder and Co-organiser of Words and Women.