“Where Do the Ova Go?” An Analytic Exploration of Fantasies Regarding Infertility

It is my intention, in this article, to present an analytic exploration, through clinical material, of a patient's fantasies about her infertility, including what she thought had caused it, what she imagined was happening in her body as she tried to conceive, and how these fantasies about her infertility were seen to be vitally linked to difficulties in her functioning in other areas of her life. Even though the patient conceived with the help of assisted reproductive technology (ART), my focus in this article will not be extensively on the challenges and dilemmas that ART often brings up, but rather more on what we learned about how my patient experienced herself in her struggle with infertility. I also hope to demonstrate that an evolving understanding of these fantasies helped her understand her inhibitions in the areas of sexuality, interpersonal interactions, her professional life, and her overall sense of her own autonomy, creativity, well-being, and assertiveness.