If you are a patient addressing fertility challenges, your plate is probably already full. It may look like morning scans and blood draws, anxious hours awaiting calls or portal messages with results, counting days until the next step, managing medications and injections. And all of this is layered on your “regular” life- work, relationships, and hobbies.
So why is it important to consider adding in talk therapy to your already busy calendar?
When you have been diagnosed with infertility it is very common to experience significant emotional turmoil. Difficult emotions like depression, anxiety, grief, shame, anger, disappointment, and fear are all frequently experienced by patients seeking fertility assistance. While there is disagreement about the impact of stress on infertility treatment outcomes, according to the American Psychological Association (APA) “[B]y causing mind–body changes, stress contributes directly to psychological and physiological disorder and disease and affects mental and physical health, reducing quality of life.”
Therapy with an individual who is trained and knowledgeable in fertility issues can help you reduce stress, address difficult emotions, and proceed through treatment with the ability to cope using healthy strategies. The ability to have dedicated time with a trained professional can help you address those anxieties of waiting for results and obsessing over next steps, thus helping you find more time in your day that is less distracted by the what ifs of treatment.
If you're interested in getting support through the fertility process, don't hesitate to reach out.