Stress & Infertility - What You Need to Know

Many couples wonder about the relationship between stress and infertility. While most couples know from personal experience that infertility is stressful, they are less well informed about how stress may affect infertility. Some important findings have emerged regarding this relationship and are presented below.

• In general, stress does not seem to be a primary cause of infertility. A medical diagnosis for infertility can be found for about 85% of couples seeking treatment. Even for patients with unexplained infertility, stress is probably not the primary underlying cause. It is more likely that there is a medical cause that is difficult to detect.

While stress may not be a primary cause of infertility, it may impact treatment outcome. There is growing evidence from research over the past two decades that some types of emotional stress may decrease the chance of pregnancy. Most of these studies have been conducted with IVF patients. Three main finding have emerged from these studies.

• Patients who are "worriers" by nature, who tend to be more anxious or nervous in general, are no less likely to conceive from IVF than patients who are not worriers.

Patients who "worry about worrying" may feel reassured by these findings. Contrary to the advice and opinions of well meaning family and friends, worrying about getting pregnant is not going to affect the outcome of your treatment cycle. Excessive worry or anxiety may still interfere with other aspects of your life and relationships, however.

• An excessive preoccupation with infertility can lead to low self-esteem, increased marital stress, and emotional distance between partners. Patients who tend to feel anxious may also be more apprehensive about the medical aspects of treatment. Additional support is often very helpful in addressing these issues.
• Many studies suggest that depression or negative emotional distress may have an impact on treatment outcome for IVF patients. Patients with symptoms of depression seem less likely to conceive than those who are not depressed.

Even mild to moderate symptoms of depression should be treated in order to optimize the chance of a successful treatment outcome. It is normal to feel some emotional distress when undergoing infertility treatment. We recommend meeting with a counselor who specializes in infertility if you need help sorting out possible symptoms of depression from more typical worries and concerns of patients undergoing infertility treatment.

There are many positive ways to cope with emotional distress and optimize your chance of pregnancy. We offer the following in-house services for our patients:

• Confidential counseling services for individuals and couples
• Mind Body programs for women undergoing infertility treatment
• Pregnancy after infertility support groups
• Recipient Couples support groups

To set up an initial consultation, you can call our main number, 770.928.2276, or ask any one of our nurses or schedulers to make an appointment for you with our mental health professional, M. Coleman Allen, Ph.D., LPC.