Do you find yourself longing for love, reassurance or belonging, yet never quite feeling secure enough? Do you struggle with self-doubt, people-pleasing, difficult relationships or a persistent sense that something is missing – no matter how much you’ve achieved or how hard you’ve worked on yourself?If so, you may be experiencing what therapist Kelly McDaniel calls Mother Hunger – the deep, often unrecognized longing that can develop when you grow up without the nurturance, protection and guidance you need.Drawing on decades of clinical experience, attachment science and the ground-breaking Mother Hunger framework she developed, McDaniel reveals how unmet maternal needs can shape your self-worth, relationships, attachment patterns and lifelong feelings of emptiness, insecurity and self-doubt. Far from assigning blame, Mother Hunger helps you understand that many of your struggles are not personal failings, but understandable responses to unmet needs and losses that were never your fault.With warmth and compassion, this book will help you to:· Make sense of painful relationship patterns that seem to repeat themselves· Understand the roots of self-doubt, people-pleasing, emotional eating and attachment struggles· Release shame and self-blame by recognizing what you needed but didn’t receive· Grieve what was missing, deepen your understanding of yourself and your mother, and begin breaking painful generational patterns· Build healthier relationships and a stronger sense of self-worthProfoundly validating and deeply hopeful, Mother Hunger gives you language for a pain you may have carried for years without fully understanding. If you’ve ever wondered Why do I feel this way?, this book helps you finally make sense of the longing, self-doubt and relationship struggles that may have shaped your life.

In Mother Hunger, therapist Kelly McDaniel revealed how the loss of maternal nurturance, protection, and guidance shapes women’s self-worth and relationships, and offered a compassionate roadmap to healing. Now expanded with new insights on men and Mother Hunger, first-born daughters, and parenting while recovering from it.Millions of women quietly live with an ache they can’t name—a deep longing for the kind of love, safety, and connection they never fully received from their mothers. In this life-changing book, therapist Kelly McDaniel gave that ache a name: Mother Hunger.With compassion and clarity, McDaniel reveals how the loss of maternal nurturance, protection, or guidance in childhood can lead to chronic patterns of insecurity, shame, and relationship struggles in adulthood—and she offers a proven path toward healing. Drawing on decades of clinical experience and the science of attachment, she helps readers recognize the invisible imprint of early deprivation and learn to reclaim the love they deserve.This expanded and revised edition features three powerful new chapters—Men and Mother Hunger, First-Born Daughters, and Parenting with Mother Hunger—providing fresh insights for both women and men seeking to break generational cycles of pain.Warm, validating, and deeply empowering, Mother Hunger shows that it’s never too late to repair the past and finally feel at home in your own heart.

Do you find yourself longing for love, reassurance or belonging, yet never quite feeling secure enough? Do you struggle with self-doubt, people-pleasing, difficult relationships or a persistent sense that something is missing – no matter how much you’ve achieved or how hard you’ve worked on yourself?If so, you may be experiencing what therapist Kelly McDaniel calls Mother Hunger – the deep, often unrecognized longing that can develop when you grow up without the nurturance, protection and guidance you need.Drawing on decades of clinical experience, attachment science and the ground-breaking Mother Hunger framework she developed, McDaniel reveals how unmet maternal needs can shape your self-worth, relationships, attachment patterns and lifelong feelings of emptiness, insecurity and self-doubt. Far from assigning blame, Mother Hunger helps you understand that many of your struggles are not personal failings, but understandable responses to unmet needs and losses that were never your fault.With warmth and compassion, this book will help you to:· Make sense of painful relationship patterns that seem to repeat themselves· Understand the roots of self-doubt, people-pleasing, emotional eating and attachment struggles· Release shame and self-blame by recognizing what you needed but didn’t receive· Grieve what was missing, deepen your understanding of yourself and your mother, and begin breaking painful generational patterns· Build healthier relationships and a stronger sense of self-worthProfoundly validating and deeply hopeful, Mother Hunger gives you language for a pain you may have carried for years without fully understanding. If you’ve ever wondered Why do I feel this way?, this book helps you finally make sense of the longing, self-doubt and relationship struggles that may have shaped your life.

In Mother Hunger, therapist Kelly McDaniel revealed how the loss of maternal nurturance, protection, and guidance shapes women’s self-worth and relationships, and offered a compassionate roadmap to healing. Now expanded with new insights on men and Mother Hunger, first-born daughters, and parenting while recovering from it.Millions of women quietly live with an ache they can’t name—a deep longing for the kind of love, safety, and connection they never fully received from their mothers. In this life-changing book, therapist Kelly McDaniel gave that ache a name: Mother Hunger.With compassion and clarity, McDaniel reveals how the loss of maternal nurturance, protection, or guidance in childhood can lead to chronic patterns of insecurity, shame, and relationship struggles in adulthood—and she offers a proven path toward healing. Drawing on decades of clinical experience and the science of attachment, she helps readers recognize the invisible imprint of early deprivation and learn to reclaim the love they deserve.This expanded and revised edition features three powerful new chapters—Men and Mother Hunger, First-Born Daughters, and Parenting with Mother Hunger—providing fresh insights for both women and men seeking to break generational cycles of pain.Warm, validating, and deeply empowering, Mother Hunger shows that it’s never too late to repair the past and finally feel at home in your own heart.