ABSTRACT
Advances in reproductive technology and the increased use of techniques based upon it have created a need for psychoanalytic thinking and understanding of the psychological implications of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and other similar procedures. In-vitro fertilisation means “fertilisation under glass”, that is, in a test tube. IVF is a technique for removing eggs from a woman, fertilising them outside her body, and placing the fertilised egg, or embryo, directly into the uterus. All IVF procedures have four steps: ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, fertilisation, and embryo transfer. In-vitro fertilisation requires intact fecundity, normal production of ova. A number of women in their mid- to late thirties and early forties, in spite of their intense desire to conceive, remain infertile. Unexplained infertility is a “diagnosis of exclusion”. This means that all other known diagnoses must be eliminated before the infertility can fairly be called “unexplained”.
