[Brief psychoanalytic point of view on assisted reproduction]

Some psychological mechanisms, regarding the new techniques of ART are reported in this work. A short overview of Freudian theory of psychosexual development of the child is given. The narcissistic wound induced by the diagnosis of sterility is quite important but quite different for men and women. It seems that oocyte donation may "cure" fantasmatically some female sterilities, given that this technique allows some women to get pregnant and to deliver a child, which was until then out of their biological "fate". Whether the anonymity of gamete donation is adapted to the psychic structure of recipients, donors, and medical teams is a question that should be considered. Very few works have been reported about the fantasies of the medical teams on this topic. The importance of infantile sexual theries is stressed again.