Parent-child relationship in psychogenesis of female psychogenic infertility (psychoanalytic perspective)

Horney, D. Pines, T. Benedek, M. Bydlowski, F. Tyson and R. Tyson, K. Brisch. The object of this research is the phenomenon of psychogenic infertility in female development. The subject is the parent-child relationship in the context of women with psychogenic infertility. The article reveals the unspecified features of development of women with infertility: personality traits, leading mental conflicts, fixations, defense mechanisms, type of attachment, experience of object relationship. The article traces the dependence of woman’s reproductive function in symptom cluster of infertility on her psyche, as well as influence of object relationship and attachment pattern on the occurrence of mental conflicts that lead to infertility. The following possible factors of psychogenic infertility are determined: 1. Pathological fixation in the early infantile period. Inability to separate from the mother, 2. Inability to identify with the mother. 3. Infertility as defense against regression, i.e. fear to encounter internal conflicts.  4. Hatred and ambivalent attitude towards the mother. Unwillingness to pass on the “mandate of life”.  5. Confusion of identity, improper gender-role identification with the mother due to improper distribution of roles in family, disturbance of personal boundaries,  and pathological symbiosis. The article reveals similar prerequisites for the formation of psychogenic infertility: type of attachment, disturbance of early object relationship, leading mental conflict, basic defense, and the impact of transgenerational experience. Defensive strategies that are intended for coping with intense inner anxiety create an unconscious compromise between mental state and body, which leads to psychogenic infertility.  

A modern view of the problem of psychogenic infertility in a married couple

The review article presents data on the features of psychosomatic disorders that contribute to the development of infertility among married couples. Socio-psychological features of reproductive setting of infertile men and women, peculiarities of self-perception and female self esteem in infertile marriages, general identity of women who suffer from infertility, reasons of psychological unreadiness to maternity.The causes of psychological infertility are revealed, which should be search not only from women, but also among men. The importance of psychotherapy in the treatment of this pathology is highlighted. In the general structure of the reproductive sphere, the physiological and psychological components are interrelated. This means that women with a history of infertility have certain psychological problems that complicate the formation of readiness for pregnancy and motherhood. These can be fears, anxieties related to family history, personal experience of a woman, her individual personal qualities or features of the current life situation (relationship with a partner and other loved ones, alternative life values, financial problems), which manifests itself in unconscious resistance , is realized in somatic form. Infertility leads to the negative changes in the structure of woman’s psycho emotional state, self esteem and social well-being of couple and can cause breach in family relationship. That is why it is recommended to pass complex examination, which includes first of all psycho diagnostic of psycho emotional sphere of individual.

Mother-daughter relationship among women with psychogenic infertility: psychological-psychoanalytical perspective

The subject of this research is the mother-daughter relationship and the image of a mother among women with psychogenic infertility. The object of this research is the child-parent relationship in women’s development. There is a small number of studies that indirectly confirm the correlation between distressed relationship of a woman with her mother in childhood and the genesis of psychogenic infertility. Women with psychogenic infertility usually had conflicting, ambivalent and unstable relationships with their mother in childhood, particularly in puberty period. Often, the image of the mother is subconsciously imprinted in woman’s psyche, affects her stance on motherhood, even if this image has nothing in common with the actual relationship in the dyad. This article describes the aspect of proneness to conflict and aggression in mother-daughter relationship among women with psychogenic infertility. The novelty of this research consists in formulation of a theoretical model of development (psychogenesis) of mother-daughter relationship among women with psychogenic infertility from psychoanalytical perspective. One of the elements of such model are the hostile and conflicting mother-daughter relationship among women with psychogenic infertility. The acquired results demonstrate that women with psychogenic infertility consider their mothers averse and less accepting than women without such disorder. They perceive their mother as showing enough emotions, care and love, or have memories of hostility and aggression towards them in childhood. Women with psychogenic infertility were impacted by lack of maternal attention than women without this disorder. Women with psychogenic infertility are characterized with avoidance and ambivalent type of affection for their mother and are more likely to view maternal deprivation as an unfair circumstance in life.

Personality traits of women with psychogenic infertility (on different levels of organization of individuality)

This article reviews the results of research dedicated to personality characteristics of women struggling with psychogenic infertility (on different levels of organization of individuality: physical, affective and behavioral). It is assumed that all levels of organization of individuality are interrelated, which allows observing a holistic picture of personality of women involved in the study. The goal consists in examination of personality traits of women with reproductive disorders on physical, personal and social levels of the organization of individuality. The subject of this research is the psychological peculiarities, coping strategies, and psychological defenses of women with reproductive disorders on different levels of organization of individuality. The following methods were applied: empirical, such as testing and quantitative methods (charting); statistical, such as correlation analysis; qualitative methods, such as generalization, systematization, comparison. The scientific novelty lies in studying personality traits of women with reproductive disorders on different levels of the organization of individuality. The conclusion is made that women struggling with psychogenic infertility (comparing to women with no such disorder) are characterized with the following personality traits on different levels of the organization of individuality: 1) on the physical level – distorted perception and dissatisfaction with their body; 2) on the personal (affective) level – high anxiety, both reactive and personal; alexithymia; rigidity; inclination to depressive disorders; 3) on the social (behavioral) level –  facing difficult life situations, women with reproductive disorders are not able to take responsibility, and often resort to such defense mechanisms as denial, avoidance, regression and projection.

THE CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND ITS ROLE IN THE REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION OF A WOMAN, PREGNANCY AND ITS OUTCOME

Purpose: To conduct a theoretical and empirical study of the formation of female identity and its role in solving infertility issues in conjunction with the cultural characteristics of modern society. Abstract: The article raises the issues of a set of views on the causes of the phenomenon of infertility and the formation of the function of motherhood as a result of the parental role and upbringing of the girl, her gender role identification and identity Сonclusion: Using clinical experience and the analysis of the literature, I would like to summarize this work and draw conclusions on the issue of studying the formation of female identity and its role in the problem of our time - infertility, given the totality of cultural characteristics and modern views on the issue of motherhood. One of the most important tasks facing a person is the search for the meaning of life, and identity crises (motherhood can be seen as a manifestation of a woman’s identity crisis) are a powerful catalyst for this search. When approaching the concept of female identity, we are faced with such a concept as the "Oedipus complex". It is what forms the unconscious core of any neurosis, and all other complexes and fantasies revolve around him. As a rule, in women with functional infertility, the "Oedipus" situation is not quite ordinary: mother plays the role of father. The father in such families is weak and is not included in the processes of raising children in the family. A weak man in the childhood of a girl leaves an imprint on an unconscious level. This imprint does not allow her to be fertile in adulthood. Formed, female identity goes through a number of stages: early childhood, as the time of formation of the core of sexual identity; time of triadic relationships (Oedipus complex) and the beginning of sexual orientation; time of practice of a sexual role (latent period); the time of choosing an object, the consolidation of female traits of gender, sexual role and sexual-partner orientation; the time of the final formation of femininity is motherhood. The semantic organization of the gender identity of women with psychogenic infertility is characterized by internal conflict in the perception of oneself as a woman and the characteristics of gender role identification. The resolution of the internal conflict of "identification-differentiation" with her mother is a prerequisite for the formation of a mature sexual identity of a woman. Studies of deviant maternal relationships, conducted in a psychoanalytic manner, allow us to talk about personal predispositions to psychogenic infertility and rejection of your own child - infantility, self-centeredness, increased aggressiveness, which are rooted in childhood traumatic experiences related to sexuality. The nature of the future maternal relationship depends on the experience of interacting with her own mother in childhood, how the mother treated her pregnancy and childbirth and how much she managed to solve the problem of separation from the parent family and build her own identity.