Patients' Reactions to the Birth of a Male Analyst's Child

After the author informed his patients he planned to be absent for one week, approximately one month hence, nearly all his patients correctly assumed that his wife was pregnant. The birth of the analyst's child revived conflicts concerning younger siblings. Male patients seemed to respond to the reactivation of oedipal conflicts by a transference intensification of their paternal identifications. Female patients reacted more negatively and more dramatically. For them, the birth of the analyst's child signified a defeat of both their positive and negative oedipal wishes. The author compares and contrasts his findings with the literature on the pregnant analyst.

Although there have been a few papers on patients' reactions to the pregnant analyst and many papers on the pregnant therapist (cf. Fenster et al., 1986), I am aware of only one published vignette on how one patient responded when her male analyst had a new child. There has been greater interest recently in the role of the father, an interest that is apparent both in the psychoanalytic literature and in the popular press. For example, Jarvis (1962) and Gurwitt (1976) presented case reports of the effect on men of their wives' pregnancies. Osofsky (1982) has reviewed the psychiatric literature on expectant fatherhood, and Swartz and Cavenar (1984) have written about the countertransference reactions of male therapists whose wives were pregnant. In this article, I will discuss four