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Many woman seeking fertility treatment do have depression. Sometimes the depression
precedes the infertility. Sometimes it is a result of the inability to conceive. Depression
is rampant in the United States. It occurs in all walks of life. There is no evidence
that depression itself causes infertility, although there have been many articles to
suggest that possibility. What is clear, however, is that the infertility treatment process
and the diagnostic process can absolutely cause women to feel very sad and hopeless,
and feel that there is no good end in sight.
In order for us as fertility specialists, reproductive endocrinologists, to effectively
treat couples, we need to address these emotional needs. We realize that it is a very trying
situation to try to conceive and not be successful. Infertility specialists who deal with women
who do have depression will usually work very closely with either certified social workers
or psychologists or psychiatrists to help the woman or the couple deal with these emotional
needs, and deal with these emotional challenges as they are going through the fertility treatments.
Keep in mind while depression may not cause infertility, infertility can certainly contribute
to some of the depressive symptoms that we see, and needs to be treated as part of a
comprehensive approach to the management of infertility and the women who are going through
it. There are some excellent resources for women interested in the effects of depression
on infertility, or just on multiple topics of infertility. I would recommend resolve.org.
That's r-e-s-o-l-v-e.org. And also, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine has a site,
and that is asrm.org. That's a-s-r-m.org. These are excellent resources to obtain a
lot of information on the Internet. Be careful, however, not to obtain information from chat
rooms or other sites of that sort, because oftentimes the information is incorrect. Stick
to the good sites, the ones that are well established even including webmd and the two
sites that I just mentioned.