Pregnancy And Baby Care Articles Fertility
Counseling for Infertility
Submitted by Jenifer on January 17, 2013
Most couple wish to have a child, and when that need is compromised due to physiological factors, it may can affect them emotionally. Studies have shown that the emotional turmoil that women go through with infertility is similar to those coping with chronic pain, HIV or cancer. Counseling for infertility can help people cope and manage their stress, and lives better.
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It is not common for infertility to take over your life, the emotions and feelings can be overwhelming to say the least. Feelings of anxiety and depression can be very challenging to deal with as it tends to make even doing daily tasks difficult. Speaking to a counselor or a psychiatrist can help you acknowledge, face and treat your emotional condition.
Individual counseling benefits
Dealing with the pain and loss can prove to be a daunting experience, and have a major impact on life. Individuals not only have to cope with knowing that infertility is an issue but also try to get through the social, emotional, financial, physical, relational and psychological trauma. Counseling helps one deal with all these factors, and counseling approaches will differ, depending on the sex of the patient. Women find it distressful and isolated when coping with high levels of negative emotions, which makes them feel not understood and unsupported. Individual counseling for infertility provides women with the tools they need to overcome negative emotions. Additionally, counseling can also assist them when going through fertility treatments to deal whatever the outcome is, effectively.
Counseling men is different from counseling women as men don’t necessarily like to talk about their emotions, so getting them to open up might be challenging. They often opt for counseling to learn about their options, and to understand the impact of infertility on their lives. Either way, individual counseling can prove to be beneficial to get through the hurdles associated with infertility.
Couple counseling
Infertility can cause a major strain on a couple’s marital and sexual relationships. Most people imagine having children to be a natural and uncomplicated way of life, and it may come as a rude shock when having to deal with infertility. Counseling can help couples communicate their feelings and emotions to one another, and learn of ways to help each other through the difficult period. It also gives them opportunities to discuss how they feel about other options if artificial treatments don’t pan out. Counseling helps to alleviate fears and apprehension, and deal with difficult relationships surrounding the issue with infertility. Couples have to be made to understand that the emotions they may experience are absolutely normal and that even the strongest relationships start to show signs of distress when dealing with infertility. Counseling sessions help couple’s realize their relationship dynamics, and work on their strong points to assist and a support system for each other. During the counseling sessions, counselors also address how to manage dealing with reactions and responses from other family members.
Although counseling can prove to be very beneficial for infertility, very less people opt for it. It is speculated that this could be, because counseling doesn’t provide a solution but is more of assisting in coping with the emotions attached to infertility. While counselors do provide support as well act as a sounding board, they help individuals focus on realistic goals and objectives, which may not be what people expect to hear or do. Counseling helps people prepare themselves if they can’t become parents, and most individuals when dealing with infertility would rather someone be more hopeful of treatment outcomes rather than hear of painful and bleak options that might actually also be a possible outcome.
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