ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the existence of the motherhood constellation requires the therapist to establish and work within a therapeutic alliance different from that traditionally sought. The motherhood constellation concerns three different but related preoccupations and discourses, which are carried out internally and externally: the mother's discourse with her own mother, especially with her own mother-as-mother-to-her-as-a-child; her discourse with herself, especially with herself-as-mother; and her discourse with her baby. This motherhood trilogy becomes her major concern in the sense that it requires the greatest amount of mental work and mental reworking. For a mother, the moment-by-moment everyday interactions with the baby constitute the present remembering context. The chapter attempts to describe the motherhood constellation. When a woman becomes a mother, in our culture, anyway, several related themes emerge: life-growth theme, primary relatedness theme, supporting matrix theme, and identity reorganization theme.
