Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users, please click the view more button below to purchase a copy of this dissertation from Proquest.
(Some titles may also be available free of charge in our Open Access Dissertation Collection, so please check there first.)
Therapists' observations of the effects of pregnancy and mothering on their work and development
Abstract
This study was designed to consider how the therapist's work is affected by the special circumstances of her pregnancy. The aim was to use therapists' observations to examine the experiences of disruption and interruption in the work, processes of envy and identification, and the therapists' integrations of work and family life. The participants were eight experienced psychotherapists, all but one of whom had worked as therapists through more than one pregnancy. This allowed for some delineation of the effects of mothering on their work and development, and consideration of the differences between first and subsequent pregnancies. The study was conducted through intensive semistructured interviews that were recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Some selections from the interviews are included in the presentation and discussion of the data. Data are reported and discussed in chapters that address the accommodation of the event, the experiences of the therapies, and the transitions and transformations experienced by the therapists in response to pregnancy and mothering. Factors that influence the patients' responses are explicated, and a discussion is offered pertaining to the interplay of patients' and therapists' responses. Particular attention was given to boundary phenomena; the influences of envy, guilt, and idealization; and the influences of mothering on the therapist's development.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
Wagner, Madeline Anne, "Therapists' observations of the effects of pregnancy and mothering on their work and development" (1988). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI8906347.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8906347