Maternal representation reassessed

Abstract

This article reports the possible clinical implications of an empirical examination of mental representations, in particular that of maternal representations before and after the birth of a first child. The study investigates maternal representations including the mental organization of perceptions, thoughts and feelings of primiparous women during the third trimester (seventh month) of pregnancy and four months postbirth. We focus on the representations that a woman has of herself, her baby, of her partner, herself as mother and her own mother during pregnancy and the impact of a major life event, namely the birth of the child on those representations.