Impact of Reproductive Problems on Physical, Emotional, Social Life Areas in Couples Receiving Infertility Treatment

Infertility is a psychological threat, emotional stress, economically expensive, painful and complex life crisis for the treatment for couples. Infertility has negative effects on social and psychological well-being rather than physical health. Infertile people accept this situation as a serious apology, and as a result of their emotional feeling, they are isolated from their surroundings over time. Therefore, infertility is not a simple gynecologic syndrome, and it is a condition that especially affects the woman very biologically, psychologically and socially, resulting in a decrease in health and quality of life. While infertility is not a life threatening health problem, the couple threatens healthy life with negative effects on mental health and quality of life and is defined as a life crisis by some authors. Studies in infertile couples have shown that women experience more anxiety, depression, stress and hostility in their lives than men, and that sexual life is negatively affected.

Today, unforeseen infertility, often unexplained and unpredictable, is considered to have created a stressful situation that pushes the coping mechanisms for a couple and destroys the sense of health and integrity.

The more a woman's identity is defined by her being a mother, the greater the amount of her psychological distress and disability. The longer the duration of infertility, the more dominance and hopelessness dominate and this can result in a greater depression. Generally, psychosocial effects of infertility also affect the components of quality of life in a negative way. The most affected areas are mental health, emotional behavior, environmental psychology, physical and social functions.

In many studies, it was determined that stress, anxiety and depression scores of infertile couples were higher than the fertile population. Anger, nervousness, decreased self-esteem, poor interpersonal relationships, reduced life satisfaction, anxiety and depression are frequently seen psychological disorders associated with infertility.

As a result, infertility is a stressful event for couples with children, and it is also a condition that affects the relationship of couples. The infertile couples have profoundly affected their marriages and social lives because of the long treatment duration, the destructive effect on the continuing mental health, the complexity of the treatment procedures, the unusual and long steps required and the consequences of the IVF treatment.