The motherhood constellation

by Daniel N. Stern

With the publication in 1985 of The Interpersonal World of the Infant, Daniel N. Stern changed the way we understand how individuals develop a sense of self. Now in this pioneering new work of creative synthesis, he maps out the emerging field of parent-infant psychotherapy and describes a powerful new paradigm for understanding the relationship between parent and child: the motherhood constellation. With the birth of a baby, Stern argues, the mother (and, to some extent, the father) passes into a unique stage of life with a new set of tendencies, sensibilities, fantasies, fears, and wishes. This new organization of mental life - the motherhood constellation - forces clinicians working with mothers and infants to adopt a different treatment framework and therapeutic alliance. From an analysis of the leading schools of parent-infant psychotherapy, Stern crystallizes the factors that effect change. He shows in vivid detail the critical elements of any parent-infant clinical system: the p