What is Matrescence?

Matrescence is the term for the developmental transition a woman undergoes when she becomes a mother. It was coined by medical anthropologist Dana Raphael in the 1970s and describes a period of physical, psychological, relational, and identity change comparable in scope to adolescence.

The term has gained renewed attention in recent years as neuroscience has begun to map the scale of what happens during this transition. Research by Hoekzema and colleagues (2017), published in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrated measurable structural changes in the maternal brain — changes that persist for at least two years postpartum and appear to support the mother's capacity to attune to her infant.

In other words: the experience of feeling fundamentally changed by motherhood is not imagined. It is a developmental reality.

Reference: Hoekzema, E., Barba-Müller, E., Pozzobon, C. et al. (2017). Pregnancy leads to long-lasting changes in human brain structure. Nature Neuroscience, 20,
287–296.

What Matrescence Often Involves

• Identity reorganisation — the grief of losing a pre-mother self, even when the pregnancy was wanted

• Shifts in the couple relationship, in friendships, and in the relationship with one's own mother

• The mental and emotional load — the often-invisible cognitive work of running a family

• Ambivalence, rage, guilt, and other feelings that don't fit the cultural script of motherhood

• Re-encounter with one's own attachment history as one becomes a parent

• Renegotiation of work, body, sexuality, and autonomy

Matrescence is not a diagnosis. It is a normal developmental process. But when the transition is unsupported, layered over prior trauma, relational injury, or a strained partnership, it can benefit from clinical support.

How I Work With Matrescence

My approach to matrescence is relational and systemic rather than symptom-focused. This means we consider what is happening within you, but also within the relationships and systems around you; your partnership, your extended family, your workplace, the cultural messages you are receiving about who a "good mother" is.

Work in this area may include:

  • Individual therapy for mothers navigating identity, ambivalence, mental load, rage, or a sense of disconnection from themselves
  • Couples therapy addressing the relational reorganisation that follows a child's arrival
  • Parent-infant psychotherapy where the mother-baby
    relationship itself is the focus
  • Psychoeducation and workshops — "Held by Kim" matrescence circles

Who is this suitable for?

  • Mothers in pregnancy, the first year postpartum, or any
    stage of active mothering
  • Mothers of older children who are realising they never
    processed the earlier transition
  • Women considering motherhood who want to think through
    the relational and psychological dimensions
  • Couples navigating the shift into parenthood together
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