When baby makes three or four or more: attachment, individuation, and identity in assisted-conception families

[Planned children--supporting and inhibiting influences on the development of personality and relationships after technology-assisted reproduction]

In the western industrial countries more and more couples with an unfulfilled desire for a child use assisted reproductive technology (ART). This focusses on physical processes and doesn't sufficiently provide necessary supportive psychological/psychotherapeutic guidance.Neglecting the psychological dimension causes ART to enhance the risk for negative processes of emotional development of a child.After a brief overview of prevalence and summarizing the legal situation three areas will be discussed which involve a high risk potential and their influences on relationship- and personality development will be described: • The psychological burden for potential parents during the treatment. • Wishes of perfection and high expectations concerning the child which can turn normative crises into severe problems. • The frequent handling of the treatment as a taboo which can become a destructive family secret between parents and child.The paper will conclude with thoughts concerning prevention and treatment.Every person working in the field of childhood and adolescence can contribute to a healthy psychological development of these children. This means acknowledging and working through the emotional burden and the wishes and explaining about the dangers of taboos like in foster care and adoption.

Becoming a mother by "AID" within a lesbian couple: the issue of the third

Using data from clinical psychoanalytic research on lesbian couples undertaking Artificial Insemination by Donor (AID), this article explores the position of the third as it appears in the family project of lesbian couples. The third is examined through the analysis of constructions surrounding the image of the anonymous donor, the impact of the medical act of insemination on the women's psychic economy, and the search for other promising bases for triangulation. The complexity of the issue of the third in same-sex parenting is highlighted. Excerpts from clinical interviews with two lesbian couples are used to illustrate and support the authors' hypotheses.