The Early Mother-Child Relationship: A Developmental View of Woman as Mother

Abstract

The process of becoming a mother is a complex developmental sequence involving a search for a particular identity as a woman. Helene Deutsch gave us a framework for understanding this process. She pointed out its biological and psychological nature and the unique experience it provides, “in which a woman is given the opportunity of experiencing a real sense of immortality and of the victory of life over death.”¹ The successful search means a movement from the diffusion of youth to the completeness and reality of adulthood. Interrelationships between the mother and her child, her mate, and her parents must undergo expansion and clarification. Success in this process is made possible by the fact that these relationships, particularly that with her child, will fuel the mother’s own growth.

Every signal which establishes a new premise or pact bringing the persons closer together or giving them greater freedom may be a source of joy. But every signal which falls by the wayside is in some degree a source of pain to both.

Gregory Bateson, The Natural History of an Interview, 1971