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I must begin with an apology to the authors whose papers make up this collection, for it is truly impossible to convey the richness of each writer's contribution in the space allotted me. Editors Dale Mendell and Patsy Turrini have gathered sixteen essays illuminating the mother's inner world from a variety of perspectives. Observing that studies of motherhood have generally focused on the mother's impact on the child, they decided instead to explore the core role of longings, fears, fantasies, and expectations around maternity for the developing girl and grown woman. Their collection is one of very few books in the psychoanalytic literature to turn a searchlight on adult development— in this instance, the effect of motherhood on the mother's development throughout the life cycle.
“The Maternal Experience: A Contribution from Clinical Work,” by Peter Blos Jr., draws on his work with mother-infant pairs at Selma Fraiberg's clinic for young infants and their mothers. The mothers Blos treated felt alienated from their babies. Their paralysis stemmed from the feeling that infantile destructive rage (their own) was now in the hands (their own) of a powerful adult (themselves) and could indeed do terrible harm. Central to Blos's therapeutic work was the realization that mothering involves the actual and psychic relationship of three generations: mother, mother's mother, and the new child. For each of the patients described, it was not only that the childhood relationship with the mother was disturbing, but that it continued into the present, creating a major interference in their own evolving experience as a mother and leading to disabling reenactment.
Once therapy was able to locate the source of the distress, the mother's latent maternal capabilities could grow in response to her infant's or toddler's needs and communications. An additional benefit was the recovery of the good mother imago, which had been experienced as missing. The mother developed an acceptance of her o