2. Infertility
• 1 year of unprotected sex without getting
pregnant
• 6% of married women between the ages of 15
and 44
• 1.5 million women
3. • 28% due to male and female
• 22% just male
• 36% just female
4. Male Infertility
• Healthy sperm?
– Azoospermia: male has sperm, but they do not
move.
– 85% of infertility in men due to defective sperm
development.
5. Female Infertility
• Ovulatory dysfunction
– 40%
– Anovulation: lack of formation or release of an
egg
• Tubal disease
– Blockages, pelvic inflammatory disease,
endometriosis, scarring
• Utero-cervical factors
6. Female Infertility
• Obesity
– Affects menstrual cycles, amenorrhea,
anovulation, higher risks of morbidity and
miscarriage
• Amenorrhea: not going through menstruation
7. Couple Infertility
• Sperm killed by anti-sperm antibodies
produced by woman
• Sperm can’t swim through mucus
8. • As people are waiting longer to have children,
more and more fertility issues
9. Psychological Responses to Infertility
• Surprise, anger, denial, guilt, isolation, grief
• Wives more likely to report depression,
anxiety, stress
• Men who are infertile feel more distress and
guilt about the infertility than women who are
infertile
• Research mainly focused on females, but
males also need psychotherapeutic help
10. 4 stages of Infertility Treatment
1. Numbness
2. Yearning
3. Disorganization and Despair
4. Reorganization
11. • Younger women felt more distress than older
women
• More women blame themselves for the
infertility
• 44% of women without the diagnosis still felt
responsible for the issue
• 30% of women whose partner was the one
with the diagnosis still blamed themselves for
the infertility
12. Treatment of Infertility
• Psychiatric intervention
– 47.1% of couples got pregnant who received
psychological therapy
– 7.1% of of control group
13. Treatment of Infertility
• Uterine transplant
– Successful live birth in February 2015
– Has been tried 11 times
– Transplant from 61 year old
– IVF with recipient’s egg and partner’s sperm
14. Treatment of Infertility
• Intracytoplasmic sperm injection
– Inject one sperm directly into the egg
– Bypasses natural barriers to fertilization
– Can lead to more children with chromosomal
abnormalities, intellectual disabilities, birth
defects, autism
15. Psychological Effects After Treatment
• GnRH potentially cause depression, mania,
anxiety
– 80% of women who were treated with GnRH for 4
months suffered significant depressive symptoms
16. Psychological Effects of Treatment
• 1/3 of men who go through infertility
treatments feel a diminished sense of
masculinity
– From reduced sperm quality mainly, not the
infertility itself
17. Psychological Effects to Infertility
• Less than three years, increased anxiety
• Less than one year or greater than six years
had less depression
• 20% of infertility patients report suicidal
feelings
• 13% of patients report self-harm thoughts