Can the psychologist help me during the treatment for assisted reproduction?

The psychologist’s role: when to intervene?

One of the cases that occurs with considerable frequency is that of couples who want to undertake the fertility programme using their own gametes, and they discover half way through the process that one of them lacks sufficient quality in their gametes and they have to have recourse to a donation. Here we help them to clarify the uncertainties that may arise as a result: whether to tell the child or not, and when and how, the psychological and/or social effects that this may have for them in the future, guarantees concerning who the donors are going to be … We are with them, if they so desire, when they have to make a decision and during the whole process, right to the end.

Also, individuals who have made several attempts and have not been successful: they begin to get stressed by the situation and sometimes present clinical symptoms such as anxiety or depression. In such cases, they need support and they often come, either as a couple or alone, to seek help in order to overcome the problems that are causing the distress.

Is there a psychological profile characteristic of the infertile?

It is more a question of a life situation than a psychological profile. They are usually people in their mid-thirties or late forties whose natural reproduction has become complicated, and who have a deep-down desire to be parents and have a family. Sometimes it may be that they have taken too long in making up their minds, or that it has taken them a long time to find the right partner.

Does the psychological factor bear weight in infertility?

Research has not come up with any clear proof on this, but it can be said that there is a very clear body-mind connection, and it is not the same for an embryo to be implanted in a relaxed body as in a tense body. In the end, when a person is very worried or nervous, the stress can turn into a physical disorder, so there is greater probability of success if the person is in a state of calm.

Cases are frequent in which the couple has undergone the treatment and it has not worked, yet as soon as they have relaxed, the result has been a pregnancy.