The desire for parenthood among individuals with intellectual disabilities : systematic review.

Background: This qualitative systematic review provides an overview of existing studies on the desire for parenthood of people with intellectual disabilities. Method: The scientific studies were identified following the Prisma protocol on 18 databases using keywords relating to sexuality and parenting. Results: Sixteen studies have been included and three categories identified: the obstacles and motivations to becoming a parent; parents' decision making during pregnancy; and the social construction of a parental identity. The results from these studies show that people with intellectual disabilities have a genuine desire for children, which is repressed because of an unfavorable social context. Conclusion: Further clinical and participatory research is needed to better understand the singular modes of expression of people's intimate desires and how to better accompany them on this issue.

Representations of Sexuality among Persons with Intellectual Disability, as Perceived by Professionals in Specialized Institutions: A Systematic Review.

The objective of this systematic review is to make an inventory of the representations of the professionals of specialized institutions on the sexuality of persons with intellectual disabilities. The scientific studies were identified according to the PRISMA protocol using 18 databases, with keywords on sexuality and parenthood. Studies were reviewed through a methodological assessment and then a thematic analysis. Twenty-four studies were reviewed and three themes were identified: professionals' representations of gender, sexuality, and consent; professionals' perceptions of their role in supporting people's sexual lives; and the ways in which professionals construct representations of people's sexual lives. This corpus highlights deep paradoxes in the representations of professionals concerning the socio-affective needs and sexuality of people with intellectual disabilities, creating what we could define as a "system of incompatibility" and leading to difficulties in positioning. Support is still too random and subject to control logics in the name of protecting users, who are perceived as vulnerable. Training and new ways of teamwork appear to be central to supporting the evolution of the representations and practices of professionals. Future research anchored in practices and involving users as well as professionals is necessary to better understand the paradoxical aspects of professionals' representations and to draw alternative ways of constructing these representations.

Transformação e invariância - Em continuidade ao pensamento de Bion / Transformation and invariance - In continuity with Bion’s thinking

A partir das noções de Bion relativas à transformação, à função alfa e à cesura, o artigo trata da ligação entre a invariância e a transformação, nos processos de representação e no pensamento, propondo que a invariância tem por função atenuar os efeitos difíceis das mudanças, que eventualmente podem ser experimentadas como catastróficas. Essa função permitiria construir uma representação e assegurar uma continuidade, tendo como eixo a ritmicidade que permite a integração das experiências de separação ou de transformação pressupostas na passagem de um estado a outro. A noção de invariante é útil igualmente para pensar a continuidade nos movimentos de descontinuidade, de ruptura, que o trabalho de pensamento necessita para a construção de abstrações.(AU)

Based on Bion’s notions related to transformation, alpha function and caesura, the article deals with the link between invariance and transformation, in the processes of representation and in thought, proposing that invariance has the function of mitigating the difficult effects of changes, which can eventually be experienced as catastrophic. This function would make it possible to build a representation and ensure continuity, having as its axis the rhythmicity that allows the integration of experiences of separation or transformation presupposed in the passage from one state to another. The notion of invariant is equally useful to think about continuity in the movements of discontinuity, of rupture, which the thought work needs for the construction of abstractions.(AU)

Rhythmicity in infants' experiences and their development.

This article deals with the importance of rhythm in infants' experiences, underscoring its function in relation to sense of being and the continuity of that sense. Although some discontinuity is inevitable, and indeed necessary for development, it can expose infants to chaotic experiences if there is no underlying rhythmicity. Observations of infants have highlighted their ability to manage their experiences of discontinuity (providing these are not too disorganizing) by finding supports and manufacturing a rhythmicity that enables them to remain open to self and to the world. Rhythmicity of experience is important not just in infant development, but also - and more generally - in learning contexts and psychological care settings. In every situation, external rhythms must be attuned to the individual's inner one.