The Existential Crisis Of Motherhood

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 author’s 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.

This timely volume examines the conflict between human individual life and larger forces that are not controllable. Drawing on recent literature in phenomenological and existential psychology it calls for a more nuanced understanding of the human predicament. Focusing on the co-occurring crises of climate change and the COVID-19 epidemic, it explores the nature of widespread anxiety and the long-term human consequences. It calls for an expansion of current research that would include the arts and humanities for critical insights into how this essential conflict between humanity and nature may be reconciled.

Roles and Contexts in Counselling Psychology looks at the different contexts that counselling psychologists typically work within, offering a snapshot of the ‘day job’. The book provides insights into roles that reflect the human lifespan from birth to death, focusing upon specific mental health experiences and considering roles external to healthcare settings such as expert witness and independent practice. Each chapter is written by a counselling psychologist and offers an overview of their particular specialism and their experiences within it, bringing a unique transparency and personal insight. The book describes the skills that are required for the different roles and their challenges and rewards. It also discusses how the philosophy of counselling psychology is maintained and explores the associated ethical and legal considerations. Further, it takes note of the issues relating to leadership and diversity. The book is an essential resource for undergraduate psychology and counselling students and trainee clinical or counselling psychologists, as well as qualified practitioners.

Building on Monica Hanaway’s previous publications, this timely volume considers the benefits of bringing an existential approach to psychotherapy, coaching, supervision and leadership, particularly in times of crisis. The book uses an existential lens to examine the impact Covid-19 has had on our mental health and ways of being, making connections between situations that challenge our mental resources and the unique ways existential ideas can address those challenges. Featuring contributions from renowned existential thinkers and practitioners, the book connects personal experiences with clinical examples and philosophic ideas to explore concepts like anxiety, relatedness and uncertainty as they relate to key existential themes, helping to inform coaches and therapists in their work with clients. Existentialism in Pandemic Times is important reading for coaches, therapists, psychologists and business leaders, as well as for scholars and researchers interested in applied philosophy.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION • From the acclaimed author of Losing Eden (“Powerful, beautifully written”—Anthony Doerr) an important, moving, passionate and passionately written inquiry—personal and scientific—into what happens—mentally, spiritually, physically, during the process of becoming a mother, from pregnancy and childbirth to early motherhood and what this profound process tells us about the way we live now. “I read your book, or more accurately devoured it! Loved it . . . It will be the new classic text in Motherhood Studies.” -Andrea O’Reilly, founder, Motherhood Studies “The best book I’ve ever read about motherhood. Matrescence is essential reading, bloody and alive, roaring and ready to change conversations.” –Jude Rogers, The Observer (UK) In this important and ground-breaking, deeply personal investigation, Jones writes of the emerging concept of “matrescence” – the wholeness of becoming a mother. Drawing on her own experiences of twice becoming a mother, as well as exploring the latest research in the fields of neuroscience and evolutionary biology; psychoanalysis and existential therapy; sociology, economics and ecology, Jones writes of the physical and emotional changes in the maternal mind, body, and spirit and shows us how these changes are far more profound, wild, and enduring than have been previously explored or written about. Part memoir, part scientific and health reporting, part social critique, ecological philosophy, eco-feminism and nature writing, Matrescence is a kind of whodunnit, ferreting out with the most nuanced, searing and honest observations, why mothers throughout this heightened transition are at a breaking point, and what the institution of intensive, isolated motherhood can tell us about our still-dominant social and cultural myths. “Jones seems to come as close as it’s possible to describing this indescribable moment in a woman’s life.” –Joanna Pocock, The Spectator (UK)

'Naomi writes so gently; her words are a soothing balm in these months of confusion . . . Thank you, Naomi, for your wise words' JUNO 'Essential reading for mothers' Breastfeeding Today It is amazing to listen to mothers and hear how much they learn. Each mother learns different things - some practical, some mysterious. However, some common patterns come through. Mothers learn that: *Mothering is more than baby- and childcare. *Babies can't talk but they can communicate. *Mothers are 'in conversation' with their babies. *Through their babies, mothers learn about themselves. *Mothers form families based on their own values. *The role of fathers is in the middle of a major change. *The reasons for maternal anger need to be understood. *Mothers can still be feminists. *Part of mothering is a spiritual experience. *Mothers bring usable experience back to their workplaces. What Mothers Learn will show, first, how learning to be a mother takes time, and then what a wonderful experience it can be. It also makes the case that, if enough of us agree that mothering is essential, society must find a way to reward the women who do it.

A thoughtful exploration of male poets' contributions to the literature of motherhood In the late 1950s the notion of a "mother poem" emerged during a confessional literary movement that freed poets to use personal, psychosexual material about intimate topics such as parents, childhood, failed marriages, children, infidelity, and mental illness. In Male Poets and the Agon of the Mother, Hannah Baker Saltmarsh argues that male poets have contributed to what we think of as the literature of motherhood—that confessional and postconfessional modes have been formative in the way male poets have grappled with the stories of their mothers and how those stories reflect on the writers and their artistic identities. Through careful readings of formative elegies and homages written by male poets of this time, Saltmarsh explores how they engaged with femininity and feminine voices in the 1950s and 60s and sheds light on the inheritance of confessional motifs of gender and language as demonstrated by postconfessional writers responding to the rich subject matter of motherhood within the contexts of history, myth, and literature. A foreword is provided by Jo Gill, professor of twentieth-century and American literature in the Department of English and associate dean for education at the University of Exeter.

This book aims to study the representation of motherhood in self-life writing by English-speaking authors. It highlights the particular issues women writers are faced with when they try to combine their vocation as artists with their duties to their children. For those women who claim their right to be both mothers and writers, several cultural myths need to be taken down, chief among which is the representations that we have of what being an artist should be like, as well as the role a mother should have towards her children. This book looks at self-life writing by women from English-speaking countries to reveal the common themes and tropes which recur in texts written on the subject of motherhood, by looking at them from both a literary and a cultural perspective. It also aims to demonstrate that a new generation of women writers is taking up the subject and forging a new literary tradition.