ABSTRACT

Pregnancy presents an ideal opportunity to meet both these requirements: widespread attendance at antenatal clinics and ongoing personalized contact with childbirth educators offers possibilities for early screening and where necessary, referral for psychotherapeutic intervention precedes postnatal distress and/or pathological mother-baby interaction. Psychotherapy aims to explore deep-seated irrational emotions and help resolve internal conflicts and archaic formulations which interfere with everyday life and prevent the individual from achieving new maturational growth. The hallmark of overvalued pregnancies is a heightened emotional investment in the process which takes on the quality of a Supreme Court trial. In some cases, conception following Artificial insemination with partner's sperm (AIH) due to male subfertility rather than female problems can be accompanied by a residue of resentment that such medical intervention was necessary. A pregnancy following Artificial insemination by donor sperm may be accompanied by similar feelings to AIH with the added anxiety about genetic inheritance.