Emotional Support for Infertility Patients: Integrating Mental Health Professionals in the Fertility Care Team

Abstract

Patients seeking fertility treatment are at risk of experiencing psychological distress, with both women and men reporting higher levels of depression and anxiety during infertility treatment than patients in the general population. Multiple professional societies, fertility care providers, and patients have advocated for integrating mental health providers in the treatment of infertile patients in order to provide comprehensive patient-centered care. Research with other patient populations shows that embedding mental health professionals into clinics provides the greatest benefit to patients. Despite acknowledging the importance of mental health in infertility care, professional societies, such as ASRM and ESHRE, have not universally standardized recommendations or methods for imbedding mental health providers in the fertility team. This review article aims to serve as a resource for providers and patients to appraise the available literature on the importance of embedding mental health providers into the fertility treatment team and discusses feasible methods to develop this comprehensive care team.

Assisted reproductive… training

“…My experience of undergoing IVF as a trainee was a time of immense stress, grief, and trauma, which is relatively common. 16 My journey started with unexpected news of impaired fertilitya result of poorly managed endometriosis and age. I underwent 12 months of fertility preservation with four stimulated OV cycles to enable a chance at the family I had always envisioned.…”

“…17 However, the psychological distress can be more pervasive and overwhelming, as one undertakes an all-encompassing process without guarantee of success. 16 Clinic phone calls are frequent and often occur during shifts, delivering fertilisation rates, progression, and final embryo numbers. The worst were negative cycle outcomesweeks to months, thousands of dollars and immeasurable hope evaporating to nothing within a phone call, only to then return to the consultation you had excused yourself from moments earlier.…”

“…My experience of undergoing IVF as a trainee was a time of immense stress, grief, and trauma, which is relatively common 16 . My journey started with unexpected news of impaired fertility – a result of poorly managed endometriosis and age.…”

“…Although any pregnancy carries risks, ART is associated with increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome 17 . However, the psychological distress can be more pervasive and overwhelming, as one undertakes an all‐encompassing process without guarantee of success 16 . Clinic phone calls are frequent and often occur during shifts, delivering fertilisation rates, progression, and final embryo numbers.…”

Identifying Women With Psychological Problems During the in Vitro Fertilization Process: The Psychological Evaluation Test (Pet)

“…Therefore, it is crucial to identify women who need support and have difficulties in their everyday life, but do not see psychological support as a solution. In this step lies (another) great responsibility of the team engaged in infertility treatment and one of the reasons for including a mental health practitioner as a team member (Jestrović & Mihić 2018;Patel et al 2018;Sax & Lawson 2022). In determining the indications for counseling, using a measuring instrumenta questionnaireis more reliable than a woman's own opinion that she needs counseling.…”