Yansıtma: Psikopatoloji ve Projektif Testler Dergisi; 2011;(15):49-61
Anne Olamayan Kadının Depresyonu
İE Atak
The Depression of the Infertile Woman
Depression occurs when oral eroticism is emphasized intensely especially when libido is fixated at oral stage, when the person reacts to the loss of object with ambivalance and when the person gets frustrated at the narcissistic stage while the oral sadistic instincts are influential. Depression, rather than forcing a reorganization of ideas, slows down the thought processes and increases the feelings of hostility towards oneself. Guilt over hostile, envious or vengeful feelings, and shame over a sense of inadequacy, then, are seen as playing a prominent role in the depressiveís illness. The desire for motherhood involves an intensive mental investment based on dealing with the child and raising him. The relationship between the mother and the child is the sign of the strongest narcissistic love. Libido directed towards the ego forms a secondary narcissism for the mother. The diagnosis of infertility with the assisted reproductive techniques becomes a significant trauma to the narcissism. Sigmund Freud states that melancholia is a reaction to the loss of the loved object and behind the self-criticism of the melancholic, there is the criticism against the love object that stands against the ego. With a narcissistic identification the loss of the object is converted to the loss of self. For the woman that cannot be a mother, the preceding affect is depressive related to the object loss. They are organized with defenses that are tied to a depressive origin leading to feelings of inadequacy and deficiency with object loss being at the center. As seen in the examples, it is hard to incorporate the lost object and tolerate the feeling of emptiness that evolve from this loss. It is noticed that the relation with the object is not stable and not continuous. For these patients, affective deprivation, the lessening of interest in the outer world, the desertification of the inner world and the withdrawal of investments are important. Another common thing is the use of manic defenses in order to cope with depression.