About this episode
This episode explores the complexities and transformations of motherhood, including psychological and neurological changes.
How do you sum up the experience of motherhood, and all of the changes it brings, both big and small? It’s a transformation that affects everything — hormones, body image, relationships, feelings, money, career — even the answers to larger, existential questions like, “Who am I in this world, and what is my role?” On this episode, we explore the impact of motherhood. We talk with a psychologist about “matrescence” — a term used to describe the multi-faceted transformation ushered in by motherhood — and why it comes as a surprise to so many mothers. We find out how motherhood rewires the brain, and how those changes affect the way we think and behave. And we hear about a new play that challenges ideas about motherhood and women’s health. After interviewing women about their experiences of motherhood, Aurélie Athan came across a term that seemed to describe all of the changes: Matrescence . Athan is a reproductive psychologist and a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City. When health-and-science journalist Chelsea Conaboy first became a mother, she was surprised to find that the maternal instinct she’d heard about for years wasn’t kicking in. That led…
People in this episode
Guests: Aurélie Athan, Chelsea Conaboy, Andrea Peterson
Topics covered
- motherhood
- matrescence
- psychology
- neuroscience
- women's health
- transformation
Keywords
- motherhood
- matrescence
- psychology
- neuroscience
- women's health
- transformation
- maternal instinct
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Teachers College at Columbia University
Books & works: Mother Brain: How Neuroscience Is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood, (plan c)
More episodes of The Pulse
- How Music Shapes Memory, Emotion, and Imagination · June 11, 2026 · 50 min
- When Healthcare Meets the Law: Abortion, Cannabis, and Corporate Medicine · June 4, 2026 · 50 min
- Engineering Happiness into Our Daily Lives · May 28, 2026 · 50 min
- The Strange Science of Color — And Our Quest to Understand It · May 21, 2026 · 49 min
- What It Takes to Survive a Disaster · May 14, 2026 · 50 min
- Healing with Psychedelics: Veterans, PTSD, and the Science of Mind-Altering Drugs · April 30, 2026 · 50 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Pulse podcast page.