Course Description:
Maternal ambivalence refers to the normal experience of mothers having mixed feelings towards their children and about motherhood. Throughout history and across cultures, mothers have been placed on a pedestal and expected to be an endlessly self-sacrificing fountain of love, support, and nurturance. Yet such idealized images do not reflect the reality that mothers are human beings who experience deep and complex feelings towards their children. When cultural ideals collide with this reality, it can leave mothers feeling anxious, guilty, and ashamed. British psychoanalyst Rozsika Parker wrote extensively about maternal ambivalence (1995), and she emphasized that the ambivalent feelings are not the problem; rather it is the defenses mothers use to block or disavow those feelings, and the anxiety about having them in the first place, that lead to suffering.

Therapists are not immune to cultural ideologies about how mothers should feel and may therefore avoid talking about negative feelings towards children or become anxious when the darker side of maternal emotional life shows up in session. This presentation is designed to help therapists become more comfortable with helping their clients, both mothers and fathers, face and accept their mixed feelings towards their children.

In this 2-hour presentation, Dr. Pollack will first provide brief research evidence demonstrating the healing power of airing these feelings in therapy. Next, she will teach participants how to help mothers face these feelings in session, drawing on theory and techniques from Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). She will include video-recorded vignettes demonstrating work with mothers as they confront and process their mixed feelings and let go of maladaptive defenses. Finally, the workshop will conclude with group discussion about the challenges of working with maternal ambivalence in session, including client resistance and therapists’ own anxieties regarding these feelings.

Date:
Tuesday, February 10th, 9am-11am EST over Zoom

Led by:
Deborah L. Pollack, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
Associate Professor of Psychology, Utica University
Clinical Assistant Professor, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Clinical Supervisor and Instructor, Syracuse University
President, Central New York Psychological Association
President-Elect, International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association
Lead Editor, The Journal of Contemporary ISTDP

Cost and Continuing Education:
$85. This course through Mindful ISTDP is approved by the NASW-Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative and provides 2 CE credits.

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