Psychological problems that hinder success with IVF

In some countries, even before entering the IVF protocol, women undergo special diagnostics to determine the level of psychological readiness for the procedure. Depending on the result, they are advised to start it either in the near future, or after working with a psychologist.

In our country, unfortunately, many do not even know that you can get psychological help before and during the procedure. And in the world as a whole, the psychological preparation of future mothers and fathers for IVF is not given much importance.

Because of this, women most often find themselves in counseling with a psychologist only after they have gone through several circles of suffering and loss. According to statistics, the second and third IVF attempts are more successful than the first: after the first, the fighting spirit of doctors and patients, as a rule, remains the same.

But if the long-awaited pregnancy does not occur during the next attempts, faith in success is slowly drying up. In women, the emotional background decreases, anxiety increases and symptoms of depressive conditions appear.

In the case when medicine cannot answer why IVF “does not work”, doctors recommend alternative methods of reducing emotional stress: for example, go on vacation or go to a psychologist. And they are right in many respects: it is worth looking at many bodily ailments through the prism of a person’s mental life.

Causes of unsuccessful IVF

A woman, even if she consciously undergoes this procedure, may have a number of internal mental conflicts that prevent pregnancy. What provokes them?

Unnatural process

IVF is an achievement of science, not a natural way of conception. The procedure is “available” to the body, but incomprehensible to the psyche. Therefore, even at the first stage, the patients begin to resist moving forward, albeit unconsciously.

Perhaps in the unconscious of a woman there is no holistic, prosperous idea of ​​pregnancy, motherhood, which, as a rule, is transmitted from mother to daughter. This experience a person receives at an early stage of development. And therefore, without psychotherapeutic work, the procedure may remain ineffective.

Fear for your own health

Until now, IVF is surrounded by many myths that create fertile ground for the development of phobias. Allegedly, you can get cancer, give birth to a handicapped child, never again get pregnant on your own … These fears also give rise to an internal emotional conflict that does not contribute to the onset of pregnancy. To minimize them, it is necessary to learn more and more about the procedure. If we study the subject from and to, it ceases to disturb us.

Negative experience

Each unsuccessful IVF attempt takes away a part of a woman’s emotional resource, and sometimes her mental health. And the lack of internal emotional well-being worsens the chances of success. It turns out a vicious circle. It’s not that hard for doctors to get an egg and fertilize it. But if at the stage of implantation the internal tension of a woman is high, then the embryo, figuratively speaking, has nothing to “hook” on – there is no favorable environment for further development.

Confused Perception

This can be argued for a long time, but embryos do not have a clear legal and ethical status. Who are they or what are they? For some, this is almost a child, but for someone – a biological unit. When there is no certainty, there is no acceptance: we often reject what we do not understand.

It is impossible to be fully prepared for IVF, as well as for pregnancy with childbirth, especially when this happens for the first time. Uncertainty is scary, internal conflicts are crushing. Therefore, it is possible and necessary to work out all the fears and experiences at the very beginning of this difficult path. By resolving all doubts and testing your inner resources, you can get closer to your own experience of motherhood.