Contribuições para a compreensão do sofrimento materno na relação mãe-bebê: a mãe com depressão

Abstract

Each woman experiences maternity in her own way. In this sense, the circumstances that involve psychic suffering, such as cases of maternal depression, are possible characteristics of motherhood. In his theory on the environmental influences that permeate personal development, Donald Woods Winnicott explores the importance of establishing a mother-child relationship in which the mother is able to provide “good enough” care for her child – which does not always happen when she is more focused on herself, and less perceptive to the external world such as in the aforementioned cases of depression. Based on his study of emotional development, Winnicott also proposed his own theory on depression, a condition he considers to hold a certain value, since it demonstrates some level of ego maturity. As such, this paper aimed to help the understanding of maternal depression and the mother-child relationship. The psychoanalytic theory, as well as Winnicott’s and other authors’ central ideas on the subject, served as a basis for the theoretical analysis of this study and the compilation of a narrative literature review. The paper concludes that said psychic suffering deeply affects the establishment of the mother-child relationship. Therefore, the mother needs a holding environment, made up of the father of her child (or a father figure, who carries out the same functions), so that she can withstand such a delicate moment of life whilst minimizing any possible harm to her relationship with the baby and her own growth.