Discovery of a new pregnancy during the cancer treatment of a young child: Psychotherapeutic accompaniment of the parents

For the parents of a young child in the course of treatment for cancer, the discovery of a pregnancy is a relatively rare event but very upsetting because the parents must then decide whether to continue the pregnancy or not. In this article, we describe and analyze the course and the psychic advancement of the parents of a young child treated for a cancerous tumor who are confronted with this complex situation. The work of the psychologist or child psychiatrist is not only to accompany these parents in their psychic advancement but also to propose a framework of subjective listening and elaboration of the psychicmovements at work,marked by a strong ambivalence, in order to allow the conditions of decision making without seeking to influence this one.