Full Description
Grounded in research and clinical experience and with plenty of case examples, this book provides a relational Transactional Analysis diagnosis and treatment strategy to give immediate relief for maternal mental illness.
Maternal mental illness is common, painful, poorly understood, misdiagnosed and often unspoken. For many years this condition has been known as postnatal depression. Yet it is so much more than this with countless women experiencing a multitude of different types of distress in pregnancy and for many years post birth. This book covers not only those conditions commonly known but also explores other factors such as Artificial Reproductive Techniques, miscarriage, termination for fetal abnormality, birth trauma, and infertility and how to treat them. It highlights the true breadth, depth and costs of the maternal journey and emphasises the struggles all parents can experience, no matter where in the world they live.
Written in a clear and concise style, this book will be valuable reading for TA psychotherapists and students, and anyone wanting to enlarge their knowledge of motherhood and parenting.
Contents
1. Something is Amiss with Motherhood - Disturbance 2. A Silent Problem - Understanding Maternal Mental Illness 3. What Are We Treating - Assessment and Diagnosis 4. Healing Through Relationship - Relational TA 5. Exploring the Dialectics of Survival and Potential Protocol (written in collaboration with Ronen Stillman) 6. The Fundamental Role of 'Mother' in an Infant's Life - Attachment and Affect-Regulation 7. 1001 Ways to Devise a Treatment - Treatment Planning (with dialogue from members of Our Evolution) 8. Speaking Beyond Words - Using Creative Methods to Unlock Silence 9. A Joint Endeavour - Working with Couples (with contributions from Valeria Villa) 10. Freedom from Isolation - Working with Groups (with contributions from Valeria Villa and Sarah Crowley) 11. Losing a Sense of Self - Fathers and Partners (written in collaboration with Oliver Hunt) 12. Complex Presentations, Disturbance and Self-Care 13. Interconnectivity that is Human Being - The Inter-Relational 14. A Lifetime's Reduction in Mental Illness?
