Introduction

This introduction presents the biopsychosocial framework of Somatic Maternal Healing, a psychodynamic and somatic clinical model of trauma treatment in the perinatal period integrating feminist psychoanalysis, matricentric feminism, and somatic psychology. The rationale and motivation for this model are explained in light of recent developments in Maternal Mental Health and trauma research. The three schools that are integrated into this framework are presented: feminist psychoanalytic theory and practice to address interpersonal aspects (issues of maternal subjectivity), matricentric feminism to address the social and systemic issues (harmful ideologies of motherhood that impact cultures and systems of care), and somatic psychobiology and clinical techniques to address the physical aspects (nervous system changes, trauma, anxiety, dysregulation, and coregulation). An outline of the book is included.