31: Maternal Ambivalence and Our Bodies

Helena Vissing, Psy.D. Our bodies, our minds and how we understand them in the change to motherhood. In this episode we are talking with Dr. Helena Vissing, about maternal ambivalence and some of the feminist psychanalytic and somatic perspectives on how women feel about their body related to pregnancy and postpartum. We are looking at how to broaden our understanding of maternal ambivalence and how ambivalence comes up how our body in motherhood. We discuss the mental changes of becoming a mother and the mixed feelings we sometimes have about our children - Love and Hate - Dr. Vissing has a Psy.D. in Applied Clinical Psychology. She has experience working as a School Psychologist and in private practice from her home country Denmark. She moved to Los Angeles in 2010, where she conducted a doctoral dissertation study on the experience of becoming a mother in the Psy.D. program at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She has published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the psychology of the emotional and somatic changes related to motherhood.  She is active in the non-profit organization Maternal Mental Health NOW She works in a group practice called Triune Therapy Group, where she runs a moms group. She is also Adjunct Faculty at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Helena is contributing with a chapter to a book titled "A Womb of Her Own: Women's Struggle for Sexual and Reproductive Autonomy" which will be released in January. Helena's chapter is an exploration of the Birth Rights Movement and the psychology of birth. Check it out here:  http://section-three.org/events-calendar-2/upcoming-book/    Connect with Helena here:   Blog: All Things Maternal allthingsmaternal.wordpress.com Twitter: @allthingsmat   Triune Therapy Group facebook: https://www.facebook.com/triunetherapy/   Facebook group called Maternal Studies Scholars Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/787721161279489/?fref=ts