Psychic causes and results of infertility problems

The diagnostic procedures and therapeutic possibilities of assisted reprodu ction have increasingly gained importance during recent years and are now a t the center of public attention. The individual aspects of experience, beh avior and thought are the objects of psychology; in contrast reproductive m edicine is concerned with precisely determined fundamental somatic principl es and has the clear aim of establishing pregnancy. Although many authors d escribe an increasing number of psychological problems in sterile or infert ile couples, so far no evidence has been produced that psychological proble ms are the cause and not the result of sterility and its treatment. Uninten tionally childless women are more affected by the unfulfilled wish fora chi ld than their partners. Due to its invasive technique,the diagnosis and procedure of extracorporeal fertilization create a heavy emotional strain. In the psychosocial sphere the problem of an unfulfilled wish for a child usually remains unseen. Mode rn sterility consultation should offer an individualized treatment model th at takes into account the special somatic and emotional features of the ind ividual.