Unresolved and complex feelings underlie non-disclosure of donor assisted reproduction. However, individual, group and /or couples’ psychodynamic and supportive psychotherapy can address the loss of fertility, facilitate the acceptance of using assisted reproduction, as well as how, when and what to explain about it. Using clinical case examples from these modalities the authors outline a 4 stage approach to articulate how therapeutic work can support decision-making, disclosure, and life after donor-assisted reproduction.
Nancy Freeman-Carroll and Nancy Kaufman presented a version of the paper you will hear today at the 2017 Annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Speaker Bios:
Nancy Freeman-Carroll, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist-psychoanalyst practicing in New York City since 1994. She trained at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Downstate Medical Center and The William Alanson White Institute, where she is a supervising analyst. She has presented and taught at White and other local institutes (MIP, ICP, and NIP).
Over the past 10 years, she has written and presented on the psychological adjustment to infertility and donor assisted conception, and is especially interested in helping parents talk with children about donor assisted conception. Last spring, she published in the Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, “The possibilities and pittfalls of talking about conception with donor egg: Why parents struggle and how clinicians can help.”
Nancy Kaufman, LCSW, LP is a licensed psychoanalyst practicing in New York City for more than 30 years working with individuals, couples and groups dealing with infertility and parenting after infertility. Following her graduation from Columbia University School of Social Work in 1979, she completed her analytic training at the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies in 1992, serving on the faculty and as a training fellow.
For the past 10 years, she has run the Third Party Parenting Network (TPPN ), a support group for those pursuing donor assisted reproduction with a emphasis on issues related to disclosure. An article, co-authored with Dr. Linda Applegarth and based on their research, “Parental disclosure to offspring created with oocyte donation : Intentions versus Reality”, has recently been published in Human Reproduction.
6:30-8:30
Buffet Dinner will be served
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Vanderbilt Suites
Met Life Building
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44th Street & Vanderbilt Avenue
(enter from Grand Central Terminal)