Motherhood Optional
eBook - ePub

Motherhood Optional

A Psychological Journey

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Motherhood Optional

A Psychological Journey

About this book

Reminding women that motherhood is an option, not a given (much less an instinct), New York psychotherapist Phyllis Ziman Tobin contends that choosing to be or not to be a mother is the defining rite of passage for today's woman. She draws on the composite struggles of real people to show how the dilemma is rooted in unexamined assumptions about normalcy, fear of change and loss of control, and the not always audible voices of our own mothers. Dr. Tobin challenges mental health professionals to recognize that coming to terms with the motherhood question is an act of maturation proper to every woman, an opportunity for self-creation. She herself recognizes that, for women who find themselves infertile or uncoupled or unconventionally situated, the question is compounded and painfully revisited as reproductive technology fails, adoption is considered, time passes. Whichever option a woman ultimately selects, she loses something, Dr. Tobin acknowledges - yet she gains by weighing the fear of now against the fear of never and being the agent instead of the victim of her regrets.

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Yes, you can access Motherhood Optional by Phyllis Ziman Tobin,Barbara Aria in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Psychology & Developmental Psychology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half title
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Beginnings
  9. 1 Choosing: The Rite of Passage
  10. 2 Opposing Pulls
  11. 3 The Fear of Losing Control
  12. 4 Feeling ā€œNormalā€: Unexamined Assumptions
  13. 5 Mother’s Voices
  14. 6 Choosing AgainĀ .Ā .Ā .Ā and Again: Infertility
  15. 7 On the Other Side of Choosing: Life as a Mother
  16. 8 On the Other Side of Choosing: Life without Children
  17. References
  18. Further Reading
  19. Index