Fresh Take: Dr. Margo Lowy on Living the Full Emotional Truth of Motherhood
From What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson
May 22, 2026 · 37 min
About this episode
Dr. Margo Lowy discusses the emotional complexities of motherhood and her book on maternal ambivalence.
We often think "ambivalence" means indifference. Its actual meaning is quite different: ambivalence means having multiple and often opposite emotions in one moment. Motherhood contains much joy—but what about the resentment, grief, anger, fear, exhaustion, and guilt that can exist alongside deep love? Psychotherapist and researcher Dr. Margo Lowy joins us to discuss her book MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE: The Loving Moments and Bitter Truths of Motherhood and the emotional contradictions at the heart of parenting. Dr. Lowy explains why naming difficult emotions can actually strengthen our relationships with our children at all stages of our parenting, from postpartum anxiety to learning to let our children go. We discuss: Why the pressures of perfectionism are so damaging for mothers The taboo around negative parenting emotions How self-awareness and emotional honesty can improve parent-child relationships Here's where you can find Margo: https://drmargolowy.com/ @drmargolowy on IG Buy MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9798888455999 What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables. We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the…
People in this episode
Hosts: Amy Wilson, Margaret Ables
Guest: Dr. Margo Lowy
Topics covered
- emotional truth of motherhood
- maternal ambivalence
- parenting emotions
- self-awareness in parenting
- motherhood challenges
Keywords
- motherhood
- ambivalence
- emotions
- parenting
- psychotherapy
- self-awareness
- relationships
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: What Fresh Hell, bookshop.org, Instagram
Books & works: MATERNAL AMBIVALENCE: The Loving Moments and Bitter Truths of Motherhood
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