Weekend Conference

Maternity — from pregnancy, to childbirth, to parenting a newborn introduces  psychic dislocation and strain in the mother and upheaval in the couple.  Idealizations of pregnancy and early motherhood can constrain our recognition of the potential for depression, loss, trauma, and breakdown that disrupt this topsy-turvy time of life.  This weekend will explore the psychic topography of this central developmental period.  We will consider the potential for emotional disturbance as well as for transformation in new parents.

Coordinator: Elizabeth Fritsch, Ph.D.

GUEST FACULTY:

Jennifer Babcock, Psy.D. is a child and adult psychologist and adult psychoanalyst with a clinical and assessment practice in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Babcock is an analyst with the Washington-Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. Dr. Babcock is a member of the Steering Committee for the SPRING Project. She has a long-standing interest in working with women and their partners during the perinatal period and a specialty in maternal mental health. She has presented to psychoanalytic groups on the permeability of mental health during the perinatal period as well as the impact of IVF and intergenerational trauma on a new mother.

Yael Goldstein-Love is the author of the novels The Passion of Tasha Darsky, described as “showing signs of brooding genius” by The New York Times, and The Possibilities, a speculative thriller about the psychological transition to motherhood. A PEOPLE pick of the week (“a powerful page-turner with deep wisdom”) and Good Morning America recommendation for summer reading (“taps into those primal feelings every nurturer feels — and fears”), The Possibilities grew out of Goldstein-Love’s own rocky transition to motherhood as well as her clinical passion for working with people during this fraught and potentially generative period. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, and Slate, among other places. A graduate of Harvard University and The Wright Institute, she lives with her son in Berkeley, CA.

Rachel Yoder is the author of Nightbitch, her debut novel selected as an Indie Next Pick and best book of the year by Esquire and Vulture, and recognized as a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. She is a graduate of the Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program and also holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Arizona. With Mark Polanzak, she is a founding editor of draft: the journal of process. Recent essays and stories have appeared in Harper’s, The Paris Review, and Guernica.