[The psychological dimension in the care of women undertaking voluntary pregnancy termination]

To identify and describe the main psychological tendencies which emerge in women undertaking a Voluntary Pregnancy Termination (VPT) and, more specifically, those tendencies which can have an effect upon the patient-physician relationship.

Psychological sessions with patients and participation, as an assistant psychologist, in the medical consultations of a random cross-section of 507 women, minors included, seeking a VPT at the Schiltigheim Medical Surgery and Obstetrics Centre between November 2002 and June 2003.

The study revealed a recurrent tendency in women to become psychologically defensive in reaction to VPT and to repress their emotions as well as the natural development of maternal tendencies that accompany the experience of pregnancy. This obstacle to psychological engagement seems to be associated, according to the case in hand, to a particular form of pathological mourning of the pregnancy, to a factor of recourse to action (especially amongst adolescents) or to later difficulties in dealing with further pregnancies.

Taking into consideration the psychological effects observed amongst a large number of women undertaking VPT and the role which doctors and care teams can have in the identification and prevention of these effects, this study proposes various work guidelines enabling these patients to be attented to in a way that is respectful of the psychological aspects of their experience.