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Psychoanalytic Inquiry
A Topical Journal for Mental Health Professionals
Volume 31, 2011 - Issue 4: Procreation
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Original Articles

On Childlessness

Pages 350-365 | Published online: 11 Jul 2011
 

Abstract

This article explores the experience of childlessness in individuals who want children. Psychoanalytic literature has documented many psychic meanings of childlessness. The author focuses on one factor that has not received much attention: a loss of connection to early objects and continuity with one's past and future. The author provides several clinical cases—both male and female, as well as a discussion of the life and work of the famous artist, Frida Kahlo, to demonstrate how childlessness can rob the individual of a way of coping with his or her fears about death. The author speculates on the sense of the inevitability of death as a driving force toward procreation.

Notes

Dr. Nancy Kulish is Training and Supervising Analyst, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute; Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Wayne State University; Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, University of Detroit.

1A recent article in the New York Times indicated that 20% of women in the United States between the ages of 40 and 44 are childless, according to a Census Bureau report. Compared to 30 years ago, many more women are choosing not to have children or are waiting longer to have children (New York Times, Aug. 19, 2008, p. A12).

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