Psychic Reorganizations Induced by Motherhood

The psychological processes involved during the transition to motherhood are capable of transforming addiction problems. Notably, these processes can facilitate the reorganization of object relations and allow the investment in the real child, whose otherness is gradually acknowledged. This investment, however, differs from one woman to another and depends on each woman's ability to gradually incorporate and develop, first, the psychological and physical changes induced by pregnancy and, second, the issues remobilized by the regression induced by caring for the baby. This period is often fragile and is frequently influenced by the neonatal abstinence syndrome and by marital dynamics, which may lead to a drug relapse.