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Journal of Health Psychology
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On becoming a first-time mother after an emergency Caesarean section

A journey from alienation to symbolic adoption

Shirley Herishanu-Gilutz

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, giluty{at}bgu.ac.il

Golan Shahar

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Emanuel Schattner

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Ora Kofman

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Gershon Holcberg

Soroka Medical Center, Israel

This qualitative research focused on the significance of subjective experience of mothers who gave birth in an emergency Caesarean section. Ten first-time mothers experiencing emergency Caesarean section were interviewed, and their narrative accounts were analyzed using Giorgi’s phenomenological method. Mothers described alienation from the infant on encountering her/him; primal difficulties in holding; a ‘mechanistic’ pattern of childcare at home; over-apprehension and fear of a cradle-death. A few of the women seemed to cope with these experiences by performing ‘a symbolic adoption’ of their infants. In the context of object-relations theory, the findings, will potentially inform psychological care in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Key Words: emergency Caesarean section • mother—infant bonding • phenomenology • symbolic adoption

Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 7, 967-981 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1359105309341205
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