INCONCEIVABLE CONCEPTIONS: PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF INFERTILITY AND REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY; ED. BY JANE HAYNES

It is over two decades since the first test-tube baby was born. During this period a new belief that all infertile women can now have babies has become widely accepted; indeed, infertile couples may feel great pressure to seek a medical solution. However, the psychological and social effects of the changing experiences of infertility remain confusing, both for those who experience infertility and for wider society. In this book, a distinguished range of contributors, including novelist Hilary Mantel and Germaine Greer, examine the experience of infertility from both male and female perspectives, the psychological aspects of infertility diagnosis and treatment, and the often radical and unexpected effects on kinship. Drawing from a wide range of theoretical backgrounds including Jungian, analytical, and compelling personal reflections, this book aims to unravel the implications of advancing reproductive technology for our understanding of ourselves and our families. Behavioral Sciences Book Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 3 Copyright 4 Contents 5 Notes on contributors 7 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 10 Chapter 1 Introduction 11 The reproductive cycle in natural conception 14 Male and female infertility and current technology 14 Causes 15 Treatments 15 1 Ovulation induction (hormone treatment) 15 2 AI (artificial insemination) using the partner’s sperm and IUI (intra-uterine insemination) 15 3 Tubal surgery to improve blocked or damaged fallopian tubes 15 4 GIFT (gamete intra fallopian transfer) 15 5 IVF (in vitro fertilisation) 16 6 ICSI (intra cytoplasmic sperm injection) 16 7 DI (donor insemination) 16 DONORS 16 8 Surgical sperm recovery 17 Chapter 2 Assisted reproductive technology and the fertility clinic 18 Experiencing infertility 23 Chapter 3 Clinical waste 24 Chapter 4 One man’s story 30 Bibliography 32 Psychological aspects 33 Chapter 5 Eros and ART 34 Eros and desire 35 The wish to reproduce 36 Trying to conceive 37 Diagnosis of infertility 39 Eros and ART 40 The technological primal scene 42 Notes 43 Bibliography 43 Chapter 6 Mourning the never born and the loss of the Angel 45 Bibliography 54 Chapter 7 The battle with mortality and the urge to procreate 55 Woman’s need to procreate 57 Causes of sub-fertility 58 Effects of infertility on the couple 60 Ambivalence and generativity 61 The feelings of those working in infertility clinics 62 Conclusion 63 Bibliography 64 Chapter 8 Myths and reality in male infertility 65 Male myths 66 Male infertility in the Western world 66 Emasculation and rebirth: paradox in the fertility clinic 67 The cult of children 69 Therapy and the clinic 70 Conclusion 72 Bibliography 73 Chapter 9 Love, hate and the generative couple 74 Introduction 74 Unexplained or relatively unexplained infertility 74 Pre-conceptive ambivalence and readiness for parenthood 76 The role of the co-therapy couple 80 Group therapy with infertile couples 82 The need for a better integration of the technological and psychosocial approaches to infertility 83 Note 84 Bibliography 85 Changing patterns of kinship 86 Chapter 10 The story of Seth’s egg 87 Chapter 11 Seth 90 Chapter 12 Gifts of life in absentia 99 Bypassing: a side note on side routes 99 Procreation in absentia: what is so ‘new’ about the new reproductive technologies? 100 Pieces of the puzzle: juxtaposing different ‘mothers-to-have-been’ 102 Case study I: The ‘foetal mother’ 102 Case study II: Female posthumous reproduction 104 Case study III: Transplanting fertility and idioms of recycling (Delia and Fay) 105 Case study IV: Maternal connection as relational non-presence (Rita and Penny) 107 Facilitating levels of comparison: turning the puzzle around 109 Acknowledgements 112 Notes 112 Bibliography 115 Chapter 13 Women’s work 117 Interview I 118 Interview 2 123 Conclusion 130 Bibliography 133 Chapter 14 Egg donation 134 Background 134 Case material 137 Caroline 137 Sarah 138 Thinking about the treatment 138 Thinking about the pregnancy 140 Thinking about the donor 141 Thinking about the child 142 Bibliography 143 The shadow 145 Chapter 15 Dark reflections 146 Dark annunciation 146 Psychological attitudes before and during ART treatments 147 The shadow body 149 Shadow babies? Potential effects of treatment on ART-conceived children 151 Shadow eggs, sperm and embryos 151 Shadow babies/children 152 The shadow feminine 153 The Mother and Child archetypes 154 Dark Eros 157 APPENDIX 158 Mythological examples 158 Notes 159 Bibliography 160 Afterword 164 Chapter 16 Afterword 165 Appendix 173 Index 180 Assisted reproductive technology and the fertility clinic / Dickinson B. Cowan Experiencing infertility Clinical waste / Hilary Mantel One man's story / Ronald Higgins Psychological aspects. Eros and art / Joan Raphael-Leff. Mourning the never born and the loss of the angel / Juliet Miller. The battle with mortality and the urge to procreate / Michael Pawson. Myth and reality in male infertility / Sammy Lee. Love, hate and the generative couple / George Christie, Ann Morgan Changing patterns of kinship. The story of Seth's egg / Emma Scrimgeour. Seth / Flora Scrimgeour. Gifts of life in absentia / Monica Konrad. Women's work / Jane Haynes. Egg donation: the mission to have a child / Sue Stewart-Smith The shadow. Dark reflections / Diane Finiello Zervas Afterword / Germaine Greer. A distinguished range of contributors examine the experience of infertility from both male & female perspectives, the psychological aspects of infertility diagnosis & treatment, & the often radical & unexpected effects on kinship. They aim to unravel theimplications of new reproductive technologies