The psychological effects of stillbirth on parents: A qualitative evidence synthesis of psychoanalytic literature

Summary Objective: To review and synthesize existing psychoanalytic literature on the psychological impact of stillbirth on mothers and fathers. Method: This qualitative systematic review followed, as far as possible, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing Archive, the Single Case Archive, and PsycINFO (1999–2019) were searched to identify relevant articles published between 1999–2019 that report clinical material or theoretical considerations concerning the psychological effects of stillbirth on parents, as emerging during classical analytic or psychoanalytic therapy session/journey. A thematic synthesis was performed. Results: 46 articles were identified, providing data on the parents’ experiences of grief and gender differences, the detrimental effects on the parental couple’s relationship, the mother’s identification with the dead baby, the importance for mothers to meet and care the stillborn baby, the mothers’ drive for another pregnancy and the fear of further loss, the mothers’ ambivalence toward subsequent pregnancy and child, the potential negative effects of unresolved bereavement on subsequent baby, and the replacement of a stillborn child. Conclusion: Our findings reveal there is some psychoanalytic literature providing insight into the psychological dynamics of parents after a stillbirth, with observations that could be used to improve psychological health care practices. One of the main therapeutic tasks was to facilitate parents to create a psychic space where they can bring to life, psychically, their lost and never-really-known stillborn baby, and to let him or her to be part of the on-going family narrative.