WHAT IS THE EXPERIENCE OF CONFRONTING THE REALITY OF BEING A DONOR OFFSPRING?
Thesis for MA in Humanistic and Clinical Psychology, 2000
Center for Humanistic Studies (now the Michigan School of Psychology)
Donor Conception areas of concern:
- Secrecy – regret, anger, feeling of injustice
- Feeling different, discomfort telling others due to lack of understanding by others of the donor conception experience
- Feeling of not fitting in family, differences with social family and importance of acceptance of donor offspring for who they are
- Identity confusion – Who Am I?
- Search for donor and family, need for ancestral connection
- Search for half-siblings, feeling a connection with them
- Concern about next generation and inherited medical concerns
- Feeling alone, having a need for contact with others and support
- Finding support and similar experiences in adoption groups
- Need to seek out information about donor conception
- Positive feelings: being special, interesting, wanted, grateful to be alive
- Negative thoughts and feelings: trouble, angry, injustice, loss, nonexistence, split feeling
- Wanting to normalize being donor conceived or parent, accepting the reality
- Belief that knowledge of genetic and medical history are a birthright
- Becoming an activist, finding a sense of purpose, duty to speak up
For further information:
https://www.amazon.com/Sperm-Donor-Offspring-Identity-Experiences/dp/1419672614
