Matrescence and new-parent rites

Domain XV · Nature, philosophy, social & rites of passage · Dana Raphael, Aurélie Athan · 1975

What it is

Matrescence is not a therapy. It is a developmental concept: becoming a mother, seen as a transition comparable to adolescence. Athan credits the medical anthropologist Dana Raphael with the term, from a 1975 chapter in Being Female: Reproduction, Power, and Change that framed matrescence as a…

Format

• There is no published manual, phase model or session count for using matrescence in therapy. The phases below are a working structure built from the sources' recommendations. Sources give no session numbers, so none are stated.
• Phase A: Assessment and safety. Goal: screen for perinatal mental disorder and risk, and assess the person's experience as development (positive and negative) across domains. Format: individual, with partner or family by invitation. Move on when risk is assessed and managed, and when you and the…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Burnout, and self-blame for structural problems.
• Self-blame, depression and complicated family dynamics.
• Comparison and shame inside the group. Screen individually as well.
• Anticlimax or conflict at the event. Normalise this, and work through it.
• Family members speaking over the client. Keep the client's preferences central.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.