Taking the psychology of pregnancy seriously : implications for intervention : a review of the psychoanalytic literature

• Main Author: Burke, Elspeth
• Other Authors: Kruger, Lou-Marie
• Format: Others
• Language: en_ZA
• Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2012
• Subjects: Pregnancy > Psychological aspects; Dissertations > Psychology; Theses > Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52476

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. === ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Pregnancy has evolved from being predominantly understood as a medical phenomenon to what psychoanalytic theorists would regard as a holistic experience encompassing both physiological and psychological changes. According to psychoanalytic theorists, pregnancy is a transitional phase and a time of susceptibility and flux for most women. This often results in psychic turmoil where boundaries between conscious and unconscious process become more permeable. The pregnant woman's dreams and fantasies create an inner working model of relationships and this in tum provides a template of how her relationship with her baby will be experienced and conducted. This link to the unconscious increases insight into the process occurring between the woman and her evolving relationship with the fetus and provides the health professional with clues for early intervention. However care should be taken by health-care professionals to communicate the psychological processes during pregnancy within the cultural framework of the pregnancy mother for positive outcomes to be achieved. === AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wyse waarop swangerskap verstaan word het ontwikkel vanaf grotendeels mediese verskynsel na wat die psigoanalitiese teoretici sal beskou as 'n holistiese ervaring wat beide die fisiologiese en die sielkundige veranderinge insluit. Die psigoanalitiese teoretici beskou swangerskap as 'n oorgangs fase en 'n periode van vatbaarheid en veranderlikheid vir die meeste vroue. Dit gee dikwels aanleiding tot psigiese wanorde waar die grense tussen bewustelike en onbewustelike prosesse meer deurdringbaar word. Die swanger vrou se drome en fantasië skep 'n innerlike werkende model van verhoudings en op sy beurt voorsien dit templet van hoe haar verhouding met haar baba ervaar en hanteer sal word. Hierdie band met die onbewustelike verleen insig in die proses wat tussen die vrou en haar ontwikkelende verhouding met die fetus voorkom en voorsien die gesondheids werker van leidrade vir vroeë intervensie. Die gesondheids werker moet egter versigtig wees om die sielkundige prosesse gedurende swangerskap binne die kulturele raamwerk van die swanger moeder te interpreteer om sodoende positiewe uitkomste verkry.