The Impact of Infertility on Mental Health: A Review Study

Introduction: Infertility is a common disease with psychological, economic, demographic and medical concerns. Infertility affects ۱۰-۱۵% of couples and most seek medical treatment. Infertility is more than a medical problem and affects all aspects of life, particularly mental health. For years, people's mental health has been neglected, but it is now recognized as being just as important as physical health, as stated in the WHO definition.Materials and methods: To conduct this review, a systematic search with related keywords and related synonyms was conducted in scientific databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar search engine from January ۲۰۲۰ to December ۲۰۲۳. The findings of the studies related to the effects of infertility on mental health were analyzed, summarized and categorized.Results: Infertility causes feelings of shame, guilt, and low self-confidence, and these negative feelings lead to various degrees of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, low self-confidence, social isolation, and low quality of life in couples and a decrease in communication between them. ۴۰.۲% of infertile people had psychiatric disorders. The most common diagnosis was generalized anxiety disorder (۲۳.۲%), followed by major depressive disorder (۱۷.۰%) and depressive mood disorder (۹.۸%). Women are more affected by psychological problems, experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression. They also more concerned about family relationships. Furthermore, when the cause of infertility is exclusively women, they experience higher levels of anxiety and general distress both before and during treatment. Infertility is often a silent struggle because most of infertile people do not share their story with family or friends, thus increasing their psychological vulnerability. In addition, patients who were treated for infertility had a higher probability of depression compared to patients who were not treated.Discussion: Past studies have shown that mental disorders are more common in infertile couples, especially in women. In addition, the relationship between mental disorders and infertility is a vicious cycle. Couples undergoing infertility treatment are under tremendous pressure and this is one of the reasons that reduces the chances of success of the treatment. Therefore, in order to improve the treatment of infertility, we need to treat accompanying mental disorders before or simultaneously with the treatment of infertility.

کلیدواژه ها:

infertility ، anxiety ، stress levels ، depression ، mental disorders