From ‘Pathological Motherhood’ to Refrigerator Mothers

Abstract

For decades the ideas of Bruno Bettelheim (1903–1990) and others from a primarily Freudian psychotherapy background held sway in the field, with devastating results for affected children and their families. This chapter will explain the context within which such notions gained widespread acceptance, and set the stage for the character of the reaction to them that reverberates to this day.