Infertility Summary

Treatment of Depression Caused by Infertility; an Experimental Study Fatemeh Alzahra Infertility and Reproductive Health Research Center of the Babol University of Medical Sciences in Babol, Iran conducted a research study in 2007, to evaluate the “effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy along with fluoxetine for improvement infertility stress in infertile women,”(Faramarzi et al, 1). Often private situations, such as infertility and grief, can be overlooked as a psychological concern by general practitioners and fertility specialists. Faramarzi et al’s study, The Effect of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Pharmacotherapy on Infertility Stress: A Randomized Controlled Trial, can be used as an educational tool for many physicians
(Faramarzi et al, 1). The Psychologists involved in the experiment Used 89 diagnosed infertile women with mild to moderate depression scores on the Beck depression scale. “The participants all had the following characteristics: “less than 45 years of age, more than five years of education, more than two years of infertility, having at least one in vitro fertilization, no fertility treatment for a three-month interval after IVF, no practicing in any relaxation techniques, no participating in any support group no taking any psychotherapy, and no assisted reproductive therapy,” (Faramarzi, et al, 2). They then randomly assigned the participants to one of three groups. The random assignment was done by “a computer randomize list in which participants were labeled randomly to number 1-124 by an investigator with no clinical involvement in the trial,”(Faramarzi et al, 3). 89 participants were then divided into either a cognitive behavioral therapy group, a Fluoxetine group, which is the generic drug name for the popular anti-depressant drug, Prozac, or a control
Initially it may be considered a form of reactive dysphoria. It “is characterized by relatively low-grad mood changes—sadness, disappointment, despair—that occur in response to minor losses and disappointments,” (Preston O’Neal Talaga, 75). Infertility may also be considered a form of grief, since it is, in fact, the loss of a child one wanted, but was never, as of yet, able to have. Our text explains grief as, “uncomplicated bereavement…. Resulting in significant degrees of emotional distress for a period of six to twelve months, and continued, albeit less intense, grieving often lasts for an additional one to three years, (Preston O’Neal Talaga, 75). As stress takes its toll on an infertility sufferer, they may develop reactive depression which, “can range in intensity from mild or moderate to severe. These disorders occur in response to identifiable psychosocial stressors, (Preston O’Neal Talaga,