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Maternal Subjectivity: A Dissociated Self-State

Author(s) : Ellen Toronto

Reviews and Endorsements

Ellen Toronto’s book demonstrates the acute need for more writings that integrate and examine maternal subjectivity in the field of psychoanalysis. Toronto guides us through the universal issues of recognizing mothers as full subjects and the concrete and theoretical consequences of our failures to do so. Her original analysis of maternal subjectivity as a dissociated self-state that sustains patriarchal structures reveals the depths of the collective trauma that the erasure of mothers’ lives is. Through analytic explorations of myths and cultural history, Toronto unfolds the inherent paradox of the maternal subject and demonstrates the limitations of psychoanalysis and its language-dominant attempts to capture the subject who is impossible to capture, the mother. Although this book is an unapologetic assertion of the maternal perspective, it also offers hope for a future of dismantling the dissociative projections of patriarchy that will allow the mother an existence for herself, for the universal healing of our intersubjective capacities.
Helena Vissing, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional

Maternal Subjectivity: A Dissociated Self State alerts us to the reality that mothers have been treated as if they were birthing canals with little or no sexual pleasure during the process. In many parts of the world women are still considered their husbands’ property. Countless mothers have become depersonalized in many societies and, as a result, become dissociated. They may become so detached that they hurt their children and end up in jail. This volume highlights the need for societies to provide support for mothers before a crisis occurs.
Daseta Gray, Certified Infant/Toddler Specialist; Candidate at the Harlem Family Institute; Sabree Education Services

Maternal Subjectivity: A Dissociated Self State continues the much-needed discussion of "Mother" as a subjective presence, one whose existence has long been disregarded as anything other than a womb. Dr. Toronto has included historical, religious, and psychoanalytic perspectives to clarify this absence. She then uniquely makes the case for motherhood as characterized by existential trauma and subsequent dissociation. Maternal Subjectivity is a major and original contribution to the psychoanalytic literature; it is a fascinating must-read that integrates history with contemporary thinking and practice. When Dr. Toronto writes about motherhood, your understanding of the lived experience of mothers as more than a womb comes alive.
Judith Logue, practicing psychotherapist, as well as supervising, training and teaching psychoanalyst and American Psychological Association life member

Interwoven beautifully with personal history and clinical material, Dr. Toronto explores the absence of the maternal subjective from ancient texts to modern day psychoanalytic theory. Her conclusion is striking: that maternal subjectivity is a dissociated self-state. That when we as a culture fail to acknowledge or accept a mother’s selfhood, it threatens a woman’s ability to "know" herself—the very essence of dissociation. Motherhood, as it currently stands in American society, is where we house or bury internal and relational conflict, our deepest needs and vulnerability, and how Toronto elegantly puts it, "what it means to be fully human." A most timely read for people reexamining the value of motherhood personally and in our society.
Meredith Darcy, Psychoanalyst, President Section III: Women, Gender and Psychoanalysis, Division (39) of Psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association (APA)