Psychosocial Effects of Infertility

Presenter Information

Elizabeth Kulikov

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Kassie Terrell

Faculty Sponsor College

Brooks College of Health

Faculty Sponsor Department

Public Health

Location

SOARS Virtual Conference

Presentation Website

https://unfsoars.domains.unf.edu/2021/posters/psychosocial-effects-of-infertility/

Keywords

SOARS (Conference) (2021 : University of North Florida) – Archives; SOARS (Conference) (2021 : University of North Florida) – Posters; University of North Florida -- Students -- Research – Posters; University of North Florida. Office of Undergraduate Research; University of North Florida. Graduate School; College students – Research -- Florida – Jacksonville – Posters; University of North Florida – Graduate students – Research – Posters; University of North Florida. Department of Public Health -- Research – Posters; Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program -- Research -- Posters

Abstract

Infertility, or the inability to conceive a child, is a symbolic loss that affects up to 20% of couples in the United States. A symbolic loss is a loss due to something other than death. Infertility has been described as a disenfranchised and anticipatory loss that can lead to complicated grief reactions. Disenfranchised losses are those wherein the grief often goes unrecognized, unacknowledged and misunderstood. Despite its prevalence and the severity of the grief and loss associated with infertility, academic literature examining the psychosocial effects of infertility is scarce. The purpose of this project was to investigate the existing literature on infertility to better understand its effects and enumerate evidence-based practices for supporting individuals, couples, and families struggling with infertility. The main themes captured in the literature were (a) intense emotional pain and longing, (b) alternating hope and despair, (c) loss of potential children, grandchildren, family life and future generations, (d) relationship problems, (e) financial problems, and (f) social isolation. Additionally, the literature review indicated several effective counseling practices to help people overcome and integrate the grief of infertility. Techniques include (a) empathetic listening, (b) reframing, redefining and externalizing the problem, (c) focusing on coping and management skills rather than resolution/outcome, (d) helping clients articulate and express feelings and thoughts to themselves and each other, and (e) validating the losses. If the client is a couple, it may be helpful to focus on getting them “back in sync” with one another and better able to empathize with one another’s pain.

Comments

Audio Presentation Transcript:

Hi! My name is Elizabeth Kulikov and I am a student of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Brooks College of Health at the University of North Florida. I became interested in the psychosocial effects of infertility on clients and decided to try to find out what the literature says about this. I was also interested in knowing how counselors and people of all sorts, especially people in the helping professions, can support people going through infertility.
I looked at infertility within the context of grief and loss. What kind of loss is it? What losses does it entail?
I found that it has been named three types of grief and loss: symbolic, anticipatory, and disenfranchised.
A symbolic loss is a loss caused by something other than a death. Symbolic losses are no less impactful than death losses. Examples of symbolic losses include divorce, moving away, and foster care placement.
Anticipatory grief is when a person is already grieving, even though the loss hasn’t happened or hasn’t finished yet. Infertility causes anticipatory grief because the person or couple knows that they may never get to have a child.
A disenfranchised loss is a loss wherein the grief goes unrecognized, unacknowledged and misunderstood by others, often leading to a lack of support or appropriate support for those grieving. Disenfranchised losses include the grief that comes from losing someone to suicide, abortion or miscarriage.
There are many emotional, relational, and social effects of infertility, as you can see by this visual representation. There are many complex intertwined issues when it comes to not being able to become a parent when and how one would have liked. I’ll just name a few.
People going through infertility often feel:
-defective and inadequate
-intense, prolonged emotional pain, grief, sometimes complicated grief reactions
-fear
-excluded and socially isolated
-mourn the loss of hopes and dreams for their future
-relationship problems – stress on even the healthiest of relationships
-experience others’ comments such as “just relax and it will happen” as insensitive, intrusive and blaming. So if you know someone going through infertility, try to avoid using this cliche.
-struggle with financial burdens and the vulnerability to exploitation
-this can lead to mental illness such as anxiety and depression
People also report having a crisis of identity, both as individuals and as a couple. They report a crisis of meaning, loss of purpose or lack of direction in their lives when they are not able to have a family.
As you can see, infertility can be a real problem. It can even be a major life crisis, affecting the whole person, emotionally, physically, spiritually, psychologically, relationships, finances, social life, sexual life, and more.
So, what can we do about it? How can we help people going through infertility?
In a cursory exploration of published literature on this topic, I did not find one single evidence-based best practice for treating clients facing infertility. Instead, a variety of approaches may be effective, and a unique treatment plan tailored to the client is best. Counselors can possibly use these theoretical approaches as a basis for case conceptualization in designing a tailored treatment plan:
-attachment theory
-cognitive behavioral therapy
-dialectical behavior therapy
-emotion-focused therapy
-family systems approach
Counselors can also provide clients with resources on infertility, including informational websites. They can help them find local resources as well, such as support groups, psychoeducational groups, and faith-based resources, if applicable.
Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that challenges can arise when working with clients facing infertility. It’s still a taboo, somewhat stigmatized topic, and it overlaps with other sensitive topics. The more you know about it, the more comfortable you will be in dealing with it. The most important thing is to provide a safe, structured, non-judgmental place for clients to share their experiences and explore their feelings.
Thanks for watching!

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