Psychological effects of infertility treatment and psychological interventions in the treatment process

All around the world, 8-12% of the couples who want to have children are diagnosed with the infertility. 10-12% of these couples do not have an explanation for the reason of their diagnosis; therefore, infertility diagnosis is usually attributed to psychological processes. People who have the infertility diagnosis are affected at biological, sociocultural and psychological levels. In terms of readiness to treatment, the biopsychosocial processes as well as the psychological processes of the women should be taken into account. In the history of psychology, infertility has been initially explained by unconscious defense mechanisms and conflicts; and later, by psychological cyclical model, psychological consequences model, psychosocial context model, grief and bereavement approaches, individual identity theories, family systems approach and stage models. In this context, the aim of infertility psychotherapy is to enhance adaptation skills and psychological growth (rather than psychological trauma) before, during, and after infertility treatment. After psychological assessment, treatment can be provided with the appropriate individual level, couple/family level, support group or therapy group. The aim of this review is to inform psychologists working with infertility treatment about psychological processes and intervention methods in the light of infertility specific history of psychology.