The psychological impact on infertile women – A review

Abstract

Infertility is an inability to get pregnant after 1 year of trying. Infertility is a serious condition which not only affects the physical health of a woman but also influences a woman psychologically. Infertility in females is growing rapidly throughout the world. It is the fifth most serious disability in the world. The woman’s inability to get pregnant leads to many psychological problems such as sadness, anger, depression, anxiety, loss of social status, lack of self-esteem, and poor quality of life. There is a tremendous increase in infertility and its treatment which actually highlights the psychological aspect of infertility. It is the growing problem affecting 10–15% of couples of reproductive ages from all the cultures and societies in the world. Patients with infertility reports elevated levels of anxiety and depression, so it is very clear that infertility causes psychological problems. It is a common problem affecting one in four. About 48.5 million couples experience infertility worldwide. According to the Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction, infertility affects about 10–14% of the Indian population. Approximately 27.5 million couples who are actually trying to conceive suffer from infertility in India. The prevalence of infertility is 15% in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and 15.7% alone in Kashmir region. The knowledge and understanding of infertility are also very low. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first documented study from Jammu and Kashmir correlating psychological stress and infertility among women. The main aim of the current review is to check the correlation of infertility and its psychological impact, that is, stress, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem on women.