[Sterility: the demand for in vitro fertilization].

We carried out several non-directed preservations (greater than 3) with 110 patients who were asking for in vitro fertilisation. As a result we have tried to point out the problems that have been found in these patients and to assess the specific characteristics that accompany the technique of IVF. In this way we allude to: the specific problems of IVF patients, the sexuality of the couple, the difference between the different techniques for assisted reproduction, the role for the technique of IVF. It seems that: There is no specific psycho-pathological feature of IVF in patients. On the other hand, IVF patients frequently show infantile conflicts that have not been resolved on the psychological level (the problems tend to be more pre-oedipal than oedipal). In vitro fertilisation confirms the original existing fantasies (the fantasy of parthenogenesis, of maternal virginity and of absence of parental coitus). The medicalization of IVF puts pressure on the patient of having to be available at a certain time and it causes an intrusion into the female body and into the couple's sexuality, and this carries with it an iatrogenic risk. It seems to us that particularly in IVF treatments the psyche of the couple has to be taken into consideration. We report our experience on sterile couples treated with in vitro fertilisation. We have researched to see if there was a specific psychic make-up in patients who ask for IVF and whether there is a specific relationship in the couple. We have tried to follow closely some patients who ask for IVF throughout the whole long treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)