This article explores the concept of motherhood and social inclusion in psychological and social contexts in a

case study of a mother raising a child with special needs (ASD). The psychological context refers to the

emotional “container” that provides support and protection for both mother and child. The social context refers

to the reduction of barriers that enable participation, engagement, and acceptance within a new community.

Adopting a self-narrative approach, the study employs deductive content analysis using bricolage methods in

content analysis and the discussion (Kincheloe et al., 2011; Ben-Asher, 2021). The analysis revealed three key

insights from content analysis results:

the mother’s ability to include her son is grounded in her capability to self-acceptance;

Self-acceptance here is shaped by external social norms and personal (inner) traits, that influenced the

Containment, concerning motherhood and self-acceptance, perceived by researchers as “erupting” after birth,

is a leading component in motherhood (George and Solomon, 2008; Raphael-Leff, 2005). The mother’s desire

to contain expresses itself in satisfying the baby’s needs, as customary in her community, followed by creating

conditions to foster his development. Theories on the subject also refer to the personal process mothers

experience (Mercer, 1986; Emmanuel & John, 2010) and the multiple kinds of social support (De Sousa

Machado et al., 2020) that mothers need.

During data analysis, we struggled with questions about self, motherhood, and containment, from the mother’s

point of view such as: Is motherhood a process during which a relationship is created between mother and

baby, or an eruption of strong feelings expressed by the mother’s desire to protect and supply the baby’s needs,

ignoring her own? Or is it a process, related to the mother and baby's behavior?

psycho-social approach (Jansen, et al., 2014, 2019; Shore et al., 2011), who sees inclusion as a hierarchical,

two-dimensional concept, composed of belonging and authenticity, emphasizing the group’s priority over the

individual. This point of view has changed, and social inclusion looks now at the individual’s needs, prior to

the community’s (Josten & Lordan, 2025).

The traditional psychoanalytic approach- container and contained

The “Container” concept developed from a projective identification, where the subject contains an aspect of

the object. The inclusive capacity of the subject emphasizes the primary emotional contact between mother and

child (Symes, 2022). Bion (1962, 1967) developed and expanded the idea of container and contained in several

works, describing feelings projected by the baby to the mother, who contains them. Bion (1962) postulated

that the process of creating thought depends on the mother’s responses, especially on her ability to contain the

that in every relationship between two people, there are three central feelings: love, hate, and knowledge. Klein

(1946) sees the external object as a container that enables one to experience the inner event as bearable until it

is assimilated in a way that lessens anxiety and breakdown. Our article suggests additional possibilities to

mother's baby relationship, based on the mother's tendencies (the container).

Bion (1962) suggested three types of relations between the container and contained: a) “the container that does

not succeed in containing” - the content transferred in the process of projective identification bombards and

floods the container that cannot contain it. The relations built in this scheme are fragile, and the experience is

mainly a feeling of not being contained; b) the “rigid container”- where the rigidity of the container does not

allow any real expression of content to permeate it ; c) The “containing container”- the contained enters the

container, influences it, while the container, because of its form and functioning, shapes the contained. The

Belonging and uniqueness defines individual relations in context of group belonging, to the “extent the

individual experiences the group's treatment as fulfilling to his sense of belonging and uniqueness” (Shore et

al., 2011, p. 1265). Inclusion is perceived as providing for individuals’ needs in the group. To provide these

needs, people need frequent and positive interactions in a regular and stable group (Baumeister & Leary,

1995).

Belonging has two components: membership in a group and feelings of affection of the group towards the

individual. While belonging to a group reflects the strength of the connection between the individual and the

group, the group’s affection for the individual expresses the valency of the connection (Allport, 1954; Allen et

al.,2021). The need for uniqueness causes the individual to keep distance from significant others by lessening

similarities between the individual and others while pointing out unique traits and opinions (Turner et al.,1987;

(UN,2016). It is also often perceived as “acceptance” or “a non-judgmental attitude for all (Smyth, 2017). In

social research, inclusion is defined as: “...a multi-dimensional, relational process of increasing opportunities

for social participation, enhancing capabilities to fulfill normatively prescribed social roles, broadening social

ties of respect and recognition, and at the collective level, enhancing social bonds, cohesion, integration, or

solidarity. It may also refer to a process encouraging social interaction between people with different socially

relevant attributes or an impersonal institutional mechanism of opening up access to participation in all spheres

of social life” (Silver, 2015, p. 2-3). Allman (2013) asserts that social ex/inclusion is a means of managing and

controlling marginalized people, especially those with adjustment difficulties. These assertion is relevant to all

social norms. Living in a community is perceived as encouraging inclusion of individuals (European Agency,

2018). This situation is perceived by Allman (2013) as tolerance by the community to the “other”, who

sometimes does not meet the standards that the community demands of its members, but is still accepted,

pertaining certain norms.

expectations for their children and their attempts to rehabilitate these expectations. Events related to the

activities with friends and family, stigmatizing, and causing loneliness due to social exclusion, requiring

ongoing support from the professional systems (Kielinen et al., 2005).

Research identified three elements that influence stress situations in these families: child characteristics, parent

characteristics, and the existence or lack of formal and informal support (Abidin, 1995). Environment support

includes social support from the family, the community, and the professional group support (Gray, 2006).

Parents also need an opportunity to be heard, get recognition, and share their personal experiences with others.

Support helps parents have hope for the future by achieving information about programs and interventions for

their child. (Dunst et al., 1994; Kurz, 2018, Lai et al., 2015).

Narrative reflection

Narrative inquiry refers to experiences related by individuals or small groups, revealing the lived experience or

related to personal and environmental resources, are revealed? 3) What is the meaning given to them in

retrospective? 4) What elements of containment and community inclusion are identified in this process? 5)

How can this article help professionals and parents?

Research genre

The research uses a qualitative and self-narrative methodology. It examined data by deductive content analysis,

narrative self-reflection, and principles of bricolage research (Ben Asher, 2021; Levi- Strauss, 1966). The main

principle of bricolage research is presenting data and explaining it in ways that challenge the reader to look at

the research subject differently and unexpectedly (Wibberley, 2017). It also presents multiple perspectives and

theories, adopting eclectic methodologies (Rogers, 2012). Adopting the bricolage approach means there is no

Participants

spouse, 38 years old, was born and raised in the place they live, and works in the family’s business. They are

parents to two boys; the older, five and a half, was diagnosed at the age of three with ASD. The second boy is a

year and a half old.

Research procedure

The documentation process had two stages, the first was written in a journal by the mother, as part of an

assignment during her studies in educational counseling. The journal was written as a reflective narrative,

meant to reconstruct events and create a retrospective point of view that included: a) Personal background,

studies, relationships, marriage, moving to the spouse’s place, the pregnancy, the birth and the new baby, the

behavior change followed by the diagnosis, and the relationships that developed between the mother and her

environment, in context of her son’s behavior, and her need of help; b) In the second stage the mother chose

process focused on two coping axes, linked to psychological and social inclusion:

as a mother, in a new community. Later, she had to contain/include her baby: but first, she had to prove to

In the second axis, in the process of diagnosing her son as having communication disorders (ASD), the mother

had to negotiate with herself, her spouse, her family, and formal and informal parts of her new community

up, looking at the watch, counting the hours until my baby woke up and I will have to breastfeed him again."

Again, before her environment reacts, she judges herself as a mother and as a professional:

her little son?”

“We had to be on guard all the time to prevent him from hitting children around him, to keep him quiet, prevent

him from throwing toys…I began to feel ashamed of my son’s behavior…”

These sentences reflect the mother's attitude and her coping. She is worried about the environment reaction and

irejection from the environment.

She tries to keep herself and her son in the community by supervising his behavior. She describes her feelings:

This naïve attitude reflects her faith and will to see the positive things, and since she saw herself as part of a

“good and successful family,”… therefore they cannot have a “special” child… In her social - personal

perception, a good relationship, could not lead to a “damaged child”. This belief is part of her way to see and

interpret her environment and life…namely, a “good relationship” leads to successful children.

In the next description, the mother refers for the first time to her son’s appearance and his character, as his

strengths, and as part of proof that he cannot be “special”:

environment… These issues will be discussed in the discussion.

The mother also described funny incidents, such as her son using sentences from TV programs as a way of

communicating:

he needed help, but he knew how to achieve his goal…”

This is a touching insight from the mother’s side, the first time that she refers to her son’s verbal

communication abilities, mixed with a humorous side, despite his difficulties.

The following quotation describes her inner circle reactions, such as her father’s: “… When I told my parents

about it, my father said: Nonsense, the child needs a good slap, to set him right…"

diagnosed a developmental delay, planned a meeting with a child psychiatrist, and mentioned that she would

recommend parental guidance since they seem to be “a nice and serious” couple.

She describes the meeting:

Again, the mother is in the center, feeling attacked…

They leave the meeting feeling hurt:

because I listened to everything I was told.”

In these two events, the mother described the professional environment as lacking in support and empathy

towards them. She felt tested and judged, even if these feelings had no evidence, since the meeting was meant

to evaluate the child’s functioning. There is no reference to the boy, his behavior, how he reacts to these

understood parents who experienced these meetings, and I understood that I will be a better teacher…”

This event demonstrates the different roles a person fulfills in life and the need for a supportive and empathetic

attitude from the environment towards those involved. Presenting and analyzing her reactions to the

committee’s members' remarks, she also refers to the professional and maternal perspectives. Still, only her

feelings are in the center. At that meeting, she hears for the first time the reference to her son’s communication

disorder, and she is taken aback and upset since there is no diagnosis yet:

talk to her again…”

Later, she describes her feelings about the diagnosis:

caused by the diagnosis did not paralyze me; it gradually emerged in different situations in my life.”

This description refers to herself as a mother and her ability to contain herself and her son from a personal and

environmental point of view. She understood that to help, support, and love, she had to know that she was not

the reason for her son’s behavior. This finding has an additional aspect, relating to herself. Why was she so

eager to exonerate herself from blame? Who is blaming her? These questions should be asked in similar

situations, such as a diagnosed illness or situations that can be seen as having a “shared responsibility” with the

affected person. Still, she is not the affected person; she is his mother. What does it mean? This is part of

containing, since she sees herself as responsible for her son’s behavior, but at the same time, she seems to

ignore him.

needed “only” a slap, her spouse, and his sister, who saw the normative side of her son’s behavior…. These

feelings affect the mother’s conceptions and her doubts about herself: “My greatest fear was that everybody

autism”.

These descriptions describe feelings that often remain private. The inner struggle between accepting the

expert's diagnosis and listening to her family, who doubted the diagnosis, caused her doubt and fear. She saw

herself as responsible for the diagnosis.

The relationships linked to the mother include several circles: Herself, the mother’s personal circle and her

family (her spouse and her son), the extended family (her parents and her spouse’s family), their living

environment, the mother’s working environment, and the therapeutic environment (professionals who work

with the family and their son). Each supportive and challenging environment was part of the relationship,

support staff initiatives, thereby empowering them. Slowly, the mother felt the community’s support and

cooperated with it.

She also gets support from her learning group:

me their difficulties as mothers, and gave me good advice. One friend who worked with the special education

friend connected me with a speech therapist, and a third friend used to take me on shopping sprees…. now I

difficulty, that does not resist or reject your pain, helps you cope and believe in your motherly instincts”.