Infertility is a condition in which a couple has lived together for more than one year, had normal sexual intercourse, and failed to conceive without contraception. In China, due to the influence of traditional culture, the diagnosis of infertility is an extremely disgraceful event, which has a great impact on the patient’s family and social relationships. In terms of family relationships, patients are discriminated against and abused by their husbands and in-laws because of infertility, and their self-esteem and acceptance by their husbands decreases, which may even lead to family breakdown and divorce. In terms of social relationships, patients tend to adopt a negative coping style and hide the disease for fear of humiliation and discrimination from the surrounding people, thus reducing the access to social support. The psychological status of female infertility is very closely related to mental endurance and personality. The psychological stress manifested by patients with high neuroticism, high psychoticism and introversion is particularly pronounced, and the symptoms of clinical manifestations are more pronounced and the course of the disease is longer in this group of patients. This situation is especially serious in culturally backward areas, where women have a low level of culture and education, low social status, and economic dependence on the family. Research data from home and abroad also indicate that infertility is a psychosomatic disease,
In addition to pathological factors, the cause of infertility is obviously influenced by psychological and social factors. But how does the “heart disease” affect fertility? As we all know, the regulation of the human reproductive cycle is done by the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis. The function of the hypothalamus is regulated by the cerebral cortex, psychological and social factors stimulating the brain will produce certain emotions,
Human emotions directly stimulate the central limbic system, and the hypothalamus and limbic system have an extensive neural connection. The long-term presence of adverse psychological factors can act on the nervous system and release hormones through the gonadal axis, disrupting the balance of reproductive endocrine secretion,
This can affect the peripheral target gonadal function, inhibit ovulation, produce amenorrhea or cause spasmodic contractions of the vagina, uterus and fallopian tubes, abnormal cervical mucus, pelvic stasis, etc., which can lead to infertility,
This will lead to the corresponding physical diseases and infertility. When patients are diagnosed with infertility, the increasing psychological pressure will cause a certain degree of psychological and social adaptation disorders,
The symptoms may include anxiety, depression, psychological guilt, fear, denial, feelings of surprise, suspicion, and excessive concern and sensitivity to the body. Couples may experience a crisis of trust and emotional breakdown, which may affect the frequency and quality of sexual life, thus further worsening and exacerbating the condition. Infertility affects the couple and their marital, family and social relationships and may lead to a psychological crisis. The treatment of infertility is a process of hope and disappointment. Patients seeking treatment will have great psychological fluctuations within a short period of time, and the treatment of infertility is a lengthy process that requires several trips to the hospital and repeated tests and examinations,
All of these factors can have a psychological impact on the patient. The patient’s response during treatment is not always the same,
Progesterone treatment, egg retrieval, fertilized egg transfer, waiting for pregnancy test results after transfer, and post-conception miscarriage or abnormal development of the fetus are the most likely psychological changes. Most patients consider these stages to be the most important ones in determining the success of conception,
The infertility and related treatment process is the focus of the greatest psycho-emotional fluctuations because it involves the most intimate parts of the patient’s body and behavior,
It is permeated by the patient’s most sincere hopes and deepest disappointments. Reducing or alleviating psychological barriers to infertility not only improves the natural conception rate but also the quality of life of patients, and is an issue that deserves the utmost attention of the whole society.