Ecopsychological development and maternal ecodistress during matrescence

Abstract

The experience of matrescence, the developmental transition to motherhood, has not explicitly included the ecological domain, whereby mothers awaken to ecological concerns and question their ethical relationship to nature. Therefore, in this paper, we argue the need for a new framework known as maternal ecopsychology and its related ecotherapies to accelerate a mother's movement toward an enlarged ecoconsciousness as part and parcel of an already unfolding matrescence. We will also explore the ecopsychological underpinnings of maternal mental health disorders, such as Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders, which have not previously been viewed from a nature-based perspective. First, we define ecoconsciousness and the ecological self to demonstrate how their development is necessary for humanity's ecological sustainability, especially for maternal health. We then outline how mothers have a unique opportunity to move from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric worldview through their matrescence and, in doing so, later reinterpret maternal psychopathology. We propose nature-based interventions such as those available to adolescents as alternative treatments for established maternal mental health symptoms, including but not limited to climate and environment-related concerns. Finally, we share general guidelines for ecotherapeutic practices with mothers to address the three primary conflicts that often arise in matrescence and to help mothers transition away from the limitations of anthropocentrism and toward a profound new interrelationship with nature instead.