Reproductive Trauma

This second edition gives mental health professionals the tools they need to treat patients who suffer from infertility or pregnancy loss, as well as new guidance for processing their own reproductive traumas.

Prospective parents who experience infertility or pregnancy loss deal with a host of physical and psychological consequences. For many individuals and couples experiencing reproductive trauma, their ideal future has fallen apart, leaving them bereft and hopeless. Author Janet Jaffe demonstrates how helping professionals can work with patients’ reproductive stories to help them grieve, cope, and heal while underscoring how clinicians’ own reproductive stories impact their lives and their therapeutic work.

With updates in research and new, more diverse case examples, this edition has been expanded to offer a more holistic understanding of reproductive trauma, including coverage of LGBTQ+ parents and their unique needs and experiences. It also reviews advances in reproductive technology and their ethical implications—including cryopreservation, third-party reproduction, and genetic testing—as well as how social and cultural factors influence parents’ reproductive stories.

Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of Reproductive Challenges and Opportunities

Acknowledgements

Part I. The Patient’s Viewpoint

• Chapter 1. The Reproductive Story: Parents’ Possible Selves and How Things Should Have Been
• Chapter 2. Developments in Reproductive Technology: Ethical Concerns and Emotional Constants
• Chapter 3. Patients’ Reproductive Trauma Experiences: “Our World Is Falling Apart”
• Chapter 4. Grieving an Unborn Child: Pain and Hope
• Chapter 5. Helping Patients Cope With Reproductive Loss: Treatment Options
• Chapter 6. Who Is the Patient? Third-Party Reproduction and Adoption
• Chapter 7. Adjuncts to Reproductive Psychotherapy
• Chapter 8. From Reproductive Trauma to Growth: Healing and Change

Part II. The Provider’s Viewpoint

• Chapter 9. What Patients Want to Know About Reproductive Mental Health Providers
• Chapter 10. The Therapist’s Reproductive Story
• Chapter 11. The Pregnant Therapist and the Reproductive Patient
• Chapter 12. Reproductive Therapist Self-Care: Taking Care of Ourselves While Taking Care of Others

Epilogue: Giving Voice to Patients’ and Therapists’ Reproductive Stories

References

Index

About the Author

Janet Jaffe, PhD, has a private practice in San Diego and is interested in issues of loss and bereavement related to miscarriage, infertility, and other reproductive trauma and its impact on individuals and couples. Dr. Jaffe is a cofounder and director of the Center for Reproductive Psychology in San Diego and is coauthor of Unsung Lullabies, Understanding and Coping with Infertility. She has presented at conferences across the country on the psychology of the reproductive process, both to professional organizations and to the general public. She is an adjunct faculty member of the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University.

In the second edition of Reproductive Trauma, Psychotherapy With Clients Experiencing Infertility and Pregnancy Loss, Jaffe expertly applies theory to the clinical practice of clients coping with infertility and pregnancy loss. Novice and experienced clinicians alike can use this easy-to-read yet in-depth book to enhance their practice working with diverse clients, particularly clients in the LGBTQ+ community, whose reproductive traumas are too often overlooked. This edition includes the most recent transformations in the field of genetics and cryopreservation, and truly prepares clinicians to help clients process and grow from their reproductive trauma in the ever-changing and always evolving complex world of fertility.
—Rayna D. Markin, Associate Professor in Counseling, Villanova University, Villanova, PA; Licensed Psychologist, Author of Psychotherapy for Pregnancy Loss: Applying Relationship Science to Clinical Practice

This compassionate guide offers a wealth of helpful information for anyone struggling with infertility or pregnancy loss, as well as to clinicians treating patients navigating these issues. Dr. Jaffe distills the latest cutting-edge research in a clear direct style, offers many helpful clinical examples, and includes several chapters about the clinician’s perspective and the patient-therapist dynamic. I highly recommend this book to everyone struggling to make sense of infertility or pregnancy loss, as well as to their friends, families, and therapists.
—Shira Keri, MD, psychiatrist in private practice, La Jolla, California

This book provides a powerful and unparalleled exploration of the depths of loss that accompany the journey to parenthood. Dr. Jaffe provides foundational knowledge for any health care provider supporting individuals who have experienced reproductive trauma.
—Kendra Schaa, ScM, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD; Certified Genetic Counselor, Founder of Allay Life

Dr. Jaffe has written a “must-read” book for all professionals-psychologists, counselors, social workers, physicians, and nurses who work with fertility patients. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the psychological and emotional challenges faced by those experiencing infertility, as well as clear well-researched approaches to help these patients move forward. Dr. Jaffe’s depth of knowledge about fertility and her compassionate presentation make this an informative, readable, and important book. Bravo!
—Lauren Magalnick Berman, PhD, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Fertility Psychology Center of Atlanta, GA