41% of women who have undergone fertility treatment consider that psychological treatment is the main aspect to improve
Psychologists call it the mourning of the reproductive health. The one that is generated after the diagnosis of infertility. “It involves different stages: you go from shock or initial denial to anger, helplessness, frustration…”. This is how he explains it Rachel Urteagamember of the Standing Committee of the Interest Group for the Psychology of Spanish Fertility Society (SEF). It alludes to “one of the most complicated moments in the emotional journey of people who want to have a child and do not achieve it naturally.”
Months of reproductive failure or when, in the middle of the process, you change from one technique to another of greater complexity because, with the one used, pregnancy is not achieved. These are other delicate moments, Urteaga pointed out at the meeting ‘Fertility: a journey to explore’, organized by the company Merck science and technology in the framework of World Fertility Day (which is celebrated on June 4).
Emotional charge
After this initial ‘reproductive health duel’, Urteaga explained that options are being sought and, in most cases, patients “accept to resort to the process to try it.” But she has highlighted the importance of having specialized psychological support to help manage all these emotions. According to the Merck survey ‘First steps towards motherhood’ (2021), 41% of the respondents who have lived this experience consider that the psychological is the main aspect to improve the treatment.
For Raquel Urteagaassisted reproduction psychology units are used usually late. “In reproduction treatments, we all focus on women because, obviously, it carries all the physical load and a great emotional load, but let’s not forget that couples, for those who have it, also suffer, but in different ways and on many occasions, they are misunderstood“.
taboos
Also participated in the event actress Miriam Giovanelliwho had to seek help to conceive and that he has told, how he lived this experience. He received psychological support during their reproductive process. “Even feeling absolutely supported and sustained by my environment, I resorted to therapy,” she acknowledged. Because when it comes to infertility, psychologists They also do it due to lack of information and taboos.
“In the collective imagination, fertility is taken for granted, which makes this path quieter and more frustrating,” says actress Miriam Giovanelli
Nearly 80% of Spanish women between the ages of 20 and 45 considers that there are taboos (data from the Merck survey ‘Fertility in Spain. Desires and Reality’, from 2022). A concealment that makes the situation even more difficult. Giovanelli has recognized that the hardest thing for her was “manage the fears that arise during the process”. She believes that her experience could help other women: “because in the collective imagination fertility is taken for granted, which makes that path quieter and more frustrating. I would like that telling my experience would serve to help release that pressure and allow others to travel more lightly.”
fewer treatments
Infertility affects one in five people in Spain. Almost a million couples have reproductive problems. Just a few weeks ago, the National Infertile Network called for equal access to public fertility treatments in all the country. It is currently estimated that 30% of assisted reproduction treatments are made in public health, all of them Artificial Inseminations and In Vitro Fertilizations with own ova.According to the National Activity Registry 2020- SEF Registrythe seventh statistical report on assisted reproduction treatments in which all Spanish fertility centers have participated since 2014, in 2020 a total of 127,420 In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) cycles and 24,816 Artificial Inseminations were carried out ( IA), which represents a decrease of 16% compared to the 2019 record.