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Correspondence
COMMENT ON ‘ “I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT MY CHILD”:MOTHERHOOD AS A “SOLUTION” TO EARLY TRAUMA’ BY
BEATE SCHUMACHER
Dear EditorsI was most surprised not to see any reference to Welldon’s pioneering
work on perversions of motherhood in Schumacher’s recent paper onmotherhood as a solution to early trauma (BJP 24(3): 317–27).This omissionseems most unfortunate as it would have been highly relevant to her discus-sion and has been influential in shaping contemporary analytic thinking onmotherhood and maternal narcissism. I am aware that a forthcoming issue ofthe British Journal of Psychotherapy is devoted to Welldon’s work and itsdevelopments, testifying to her enduring influence and making the omissionin this paper even more striking.
Yours sincerelyAnna Motz
Consultant Clinical and Forensic PsychologistThames Valley Forensic Mental Health Service
RESPONSE TO ANNA MOTZ
Dear EditorsThank you very much for the opportunity to respond to Anna Motz’s
letter regarding my paper in BJP 24(3): 317–27.Estela Welldon’s thinking on motherhood has, of course, been hugely
important and all those of us working with mothers, whose difficulties haveserious consequences for their children, owe an enormous debt to her.However, rather than a detailed discussion of current analytic thinking onperversions of motherhood or female narcissism, the primary aim of thispaper was to draw attention to the need for treatments appropriate to thispatient group and their children. Clinical examples given in the course oftrying to make this case are thus set in the context of recent legal and policyguidance; doing justice to Welldon’s work, it seemed to me, would not havebeen possible within the confines of this endeavour. I very much look
© The authorsJournal compilation © 2009 BAP and Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road,Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 131
forward to the special issue of the BJP, which will give her work the space itdeserves.
Yours sincerelyBeate Schumacher
Consultant Adult Psychotherapist[[email protected]]
132 BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY (2009) 25(1)
