With the accelerated pace of life, increased work pressure, environmental pollution and unsafe diet, the incidence of infertility is on the rise year by year. According to current medical statistics, infertility patients account for 10% of couples of childbearing age, and are especially common in China, where the population is large. Experts estimate that one out of every six couples who want to have a child are still childless.
Although infertility is not life-threatening, it seriously affects the peace of families and the stability of society. The treatment of infertility has become increasingly important. With the continuous development of assisted reproduction technology, there are various methods for clinical treatment of infertility: artificial insemination technique; in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer technique; intracytoplasmic single sperm microinjection; freeze-thaw embryo transfer technique; and egg donation technique.
With the development of society, modern couples are planning to have children later and later, men are always putting their careers before starting a family and modern women are significantly extending their education. However, age is the most important factor that affects fertility. The best age for women to have children is 25-29 years old, after 30 years old women’s fertility starts to decline, and after 35 years old fertility declines even faster. After the age of 40, women gradually enter the perimenopausal phase and few have successful pregnancies. In infertility treatment, there is a direct relationship between the age of consultation and the outcome of infertility treatment. As the age of consultation increases, the pregnancy rate after treatment decreases, especially in women over 35 years of age. That is, in IVF treatment, when the woman is younger than 35 years old, the amount of medication used is less and the quality of the eggs obtained and the embryos formed is better, and the chances of a successful pregnancy are greater. Therefore, if infertility is detected, it is best to seek medical attention before the age of 35. Treatment of infertility should be taken as soon as possible and should not be delayed.
Currently, IVF technology has been generally accepted by doctors and patients in the treatment of infertility for its clear treatment effect and quick results. The success rate of each embryo transfer cycle has also become a major concern for doctors and patients.
The success of IVF is closely related to the number of years of infertility, the age of the patient, the quality of the embryos, the condition of the endometrium, and the endocrine coordination, and the psychological factors of the patient also play an important role, but the psychological aspects of the patient are often neglected.
I. Mental health problems in infertility patients.
Infertility patients have many complex psychological aspects, and their kind of complex psychology is often difficult to be understood by normal people. Doctors who want to help infertile couples need to learn to understand their feelings and to empathize with them so that they can become normal again. This complex psychology includes feelings of anxiety, pain, guilt, isolation, depression, shame, loss and other feelings.
(a) Anxiety of infertility patients.
Infertility is catastrophic for every family. A couple who are originally happy beyond measure with infinite longing expects a child to come, and one failure after another dilutes the happiness of life, and when it is proved that they cannot get pregnant normally after going to the hospital for examination, they will be under immense pressure psychologically, and people’s first reaction is instinctive denial, which is a self-defense mechanism, but this denial does not last for a long The first reaction is instinctive denial, which is a self-defense mechanism, but this denial does not last long, and in the face of reality, it quickly breaks down and understands the fact that you cannot pass on the pregnancy. In place of anxiety, they start to seek medical advice, watch all the advertisements on radio and television, browse all the information on the Internet, and even the little prescriptions on the telephone poles. At this time, they are most likely to trust others, and they will not hesitate to try any method that tells them that it can cure infertility. I once met a patient with bilateral blocked fallopian tubes who had hundreds of tubal lavage treatments in a hospital.
(b) Sense of pain in infertility patients.
For infertile couples to suffer more physical pain is bearable, it is the various torments that exist psychologically that are really unbearable. After the final diagnosis of inability to have children or after the couple’s unsuccessful efforts, it is inevitable to feel the pain for the loss of fertility and the loss of life goals. Especially for the partner with the problem, all the pressure falls on him or her. A patient once came to us crying: we have been seeing them for ten years to have a child, and now my in-laws are in their eighties, bedridden and dying, and the only thing they can’t close their eyes is that their son, who has been single for three generations, has no children. Every time I saw the expectation in their cloudy eyes, I was about to collapse, and my husband refused to divorce me many times, and now it is worse than death.
(c) Isolation of infertility patients.
What infertility patients fear most is the concerned inquiries from friends and relatives. Every time they are asked about not having a child yet, or even when sensitive topics like other women’s pregnancy or the birth of a child are mentioned. Every time they are asked about not having a child, or even about sensitive topics such as another woman’s pregnancy or the birth of a child, the guilt, low self-esteem, and loss are all present.
In today’s open era, infertility is still a difficult topic to talk about, so although the patient is suffering immense pain in her heart, there is no way to talk about it, and the couple cannot really talk about it openly and honestly. And good accusations, in this way to test whether the other party has changed his or her mind, or has other plans. They are afraid that their lover will say “I don’t want any more children” for the sake of their unfailing love, but every time they see someone else’s child, the longing in their eyes will show. So infertile couples always try to get away from social activities and anything that causes them pain, becoming more and more isolated. Infertility also becomes a scar in their lives that they cannot touch, and they start to disguise themselves layer by layer in order to hide it, making it impossible for people to approach them.
II. Psychological care of infertility patients.
They are mostly fragile and sensitive when they come to the clinic. Doctors have to pay more love, care and enthusiasm in treating infertility patients than in treating patients with other diseases. Medical workers pay attention to psychological care while treating their physical diseases. It is important for them to get rid of all the complicated psychological burdens and treat infertility easily so that they can better cooperate with clinical treatment. There are three steps to get rid of all kinds of complicated psychological burdens.
(i) To be able to find out and say what kind of complex psychology is involved.
Have a frank communication with the patient and establish a certain friendship. Let them treat themselves as a friend who knows their heart, so that they can shed their pretense in front of themselves, can say all the things they are holding in their heart, and can release all their unhappiness. If they can really let out all the feelings in their hearts, they can treat infertility with a relaxed mind.
Some patients tend to vent their grievances, aggressions they have suffered during their previous visits, and resentment from many failed treatments to the doctor who treats them and during the treatment process, and show their subconscious suspicion, distrust and even hostility towards the doctor in charge. The patient is not a good doctor. Some patients think that the doctor will only treat them with care if they give them benefits, and that the doctor will not care about them if they refuse to accept the benefits, but will instead find a doctor who accepts benefits to treat them. Doctors need to communicate with such patients many times. Medicine is a developing science and an empirical discipline, and there are still many unknown fields to be explored, and reproduction and fertility are the miraculous strokes of natural creation. There are many strong people in this group who are fighting side by side with medical workers, challenging fate again and again, and many patients around them have achieved success and have the right to be parents. I think every doctor will take the cure of the disease as the best commendation for his work.
(b) Discussion of this complex feeling.
As soon as the patient finds and names all the feelings inside him/her, it is important to have a real discussion with the patient about this complicated feeling as much as possible and gradually discover the source of this feeling and the way to cope with it. The first step is to make the patient aware of the fact that she is suffering from infertility as early as possible so that she can undergo further tests and treatment. Then help them to get rid of their low self-esteem and pain and to recover their lost confidence and happiness while they are being examined and treated. Establishing chat groups for infertility patients to share their successful treatment experiences with everyone and make exchanges of their experiences in seeing the doctor can make the patients take fewer detours and be able to take the infertility problem in stride. Let them realize that there are many options available to them, such as assisted reproduction, adoption, or a childless life. Either way, they can live happily ever after. The transmission of positive energy can increase the patient’s confidence in overcoming the disease and can also stabilize the patient’s emotions and face the ups and downs of life openly.
(c) Encourage them to start a new life.
The doctor should make a scientific analysis with the patient about the cause of the infertility they suffer from, the treatment method, the treatment effect, and the possible risks, so that the patient can correctly understand that most of the infertility can be treated to get pregnant, a very small number of them cannot be cured due to genetic genetic problems, and a small number of them are due to excessive damage to the endometrium that cannot be repaired, resulting in difficulties in embryo implantation. With the efforts of the doctor and the cooperation of the patient, the active treatment, the doctor serves the patient with the best technology, waits for the patient with the best attitude and understands the patient with the greatest love. The patient faces the disease with a scientific attitude, trusts the doctor with a frank heart and welcomes the arrival of the embryo baby with a calm mood, and the success after the effort is joyful and the failure after the effort is without regret.