By Danielle D. Jenkins, PsyD

Matrescence is a term created by Dana Raphael to define the time in a woman’s life as she moves from pre-conception through the postpartum period and beyond. It is a critical period that is full of transition, identity shifts, and hormonal fluctuations. It’s a term that is starting to become more well-known and an experience that is felt by everyone who becomes a mom.

Aurélie Athan, Ph.D. says this about matrescence, “The process of becoming a mother, coined by Dana Raphael, Ph.D. (1973), is a developmental passage where a woman transitions through pre-conception, pregnancy and birth, surrogacy or adoption, to the postnatal period and beyond. The exact length of matrescence is individual, recurs with each child, and may arguably last a lifetime! The scope of the changes encompass multiple domains --bio-psycho-social-political-spiritual-- and can be likened to the developmental push of adolescence.”

And just as...