ABSTRACT
Psychoanalysis has long had a complex and psychologically nuanced relationship with infertility and with the treatment of women suffering from infertility. Contemporary contributions to the understanding of infertility suggest that the psychological treatment of this biological situation would be more nuanced. Certainly, advances in medical technology regarding the act of conception and the physical bearing of a child have altered and shaped the nature of interpersonal relationships, offering women and couples choices as to when and how to have a child. Exploring socio-cultural and familial experiences that impact on a women’s decision to delay having a child undoubtedly broadens the therapeutic landscape for those who treatment infertility. For anyone working with women, couples, and families, these theoretical trends, along with advances in the treatment of trauma and attachment disorders, clearly suggest that the picture for the contemporary woman and her clinician can be quite complex.
