PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN WOMEN - A PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE

Aspects of the normal psychology and psychopathology of women are discussed in relation to adolescence, young womanhood and motherhood. Perversions of motherhood exist, although they are largely denied by a society which idealises being a mother. This denial may be caused by society's inability to see a woman as a complete human being. The aetiology of perversions in women is both psychobiological and social and it is bound up with the politics of power. Perverse motherhood can be seen as the product of the emotional instability and inadequate individuation brought about by a process involving at least three generations.