Mother Hunger, Revised Edition

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.