ABSTRACT

Motherhood and Mental Illness offers an in-depth, comprehensive relational psychotherapeutic framework to provide effective treatment for those experiencing maternal mental illness.

This book addresses a current deficit in mental health resources and treatment and is designed to be an accessible, practical guide into the types and manifests of disorders and the diagnosis, treatment and management of maternal mental illness. It gives a solid understanding of the nature and complexity of maternal mental illness and offers clear guidance on how to provide treatment for successful recovery. Then, using a relational approach, the book offers useful therapeutic interventions grounded in clinical experience and research, which are elucidated with case examples. Covering the most common presentations and the confounders (alcohol, single parenting, drug abuse, self-medication) this is a guide of how to plan treatment, common mistakes that can occur, myths that prevail, and ethical dilemmas.

The book will be suitable for psychotherapists and counsellors of any modality as well as any healthcare professionals who have frontline contact with women.

part I|90 pages

Hear Us Speak

chapter 21|12 pages

Transitions

chapter 2|10 pages

A Silent Problem

chapter 5|12 pages

Maternal Trauma

chapter 6|9 pages

Postpartum Psychosis

chapter 8|13 pages

Barriers to Treatment

Stigma and Shame Leading to Silence

part II|101 pages

Listening Beyond Words

chapter 929|14 pages

A Relational Approach

chapter 10|12 pages

Ethical Dilemmas in Motherhood

chapter 12|12 pages

Affect Regulation

chapter 13|14 pages

The Therapeutic Role

chapter 16|5 pages

Couples Work