Stress is a physiological and psychological response to events experienced when transactions with the environment exceed with the individual capacity or coping. Around the world, infertility is recognised as a stressful experience that can potentially threaten individual, marital, familial, and social stability.

Infertility Factors Generating stress:

• Treatment
• Psychological
• Social
• Cultural
• Financial
• Gender

Couples’ frequent visits to the hospital for consultations, physical examinations, investigations, and treatment procedures are time consuming. Hence, couples, more specifically women, have to make adjustments and compromises in their professional and personal lives. Couples also drop out of treatment after their first experience of failure or after repeated negative results, which causes feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. Though stress is undesirable for successful treatment outcomes, stress can become pronounced as couples grapple with complex decisions about treatment options while pursuing fertility treatments.

Infertility happens to be a life-altering phenomenon, creating an isolating and stigmatizing environment that occurs not only within the context of the individual’s or couple’s life but also withing their social milieu. More often than not, the subject of childlessness is so stigmatizing that one partner or the couple is unable to talk about it with anyone around them, resulting in isolation.

In many societies having a child is definitely is the defining feature of a young couple and a fundamental characteristic of a family, and this expectation can lead the whole family, let alone the couple to feel compelled to prioritize fertility.

Myths and misconceptions about male infertility persist in many cultures and thereby create an environment of stigmatization.

Infertility Counselling in Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine in India

Infertility counselling as an emerging speciality for the identification o psychological distress to provide expert care and suitable intervention in conjunction with complex medical treatment have been suggested by professionals in the field and is an important part of our program - Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine, legislated and recommended on the basis of evidence-based research. Although, the psychological impact of infertility was addressed in literature at the beginning of the 1930s, it nearly took 30 years for infertility counselling to emerge as a recognized profession and mental health speciality.

Who can be an Infertility Counsellor?

• A certified graduate degree in a mental health related field
• Specialized Training in Medical and Psychological aspects of Infertility in India
• Having minimum of 1 year of Clinical Experience
• Preferably having a license to practice either through a registered, certified charter or institution
• Additional training or certification in reproductive health or infertility counselling is beneficial

Types of Counselling

• Psychological Assessment/ Screening
• Information Gathering and Analysis
• Implication Counselling and Decision-Making Counselling
• Support Counselling
• Therapeutic Counselling

The shift that counselling now signifies is indeed a greater one, moving from an almost exclusive focus on the individual's psychopathology, to an interest in the person holistically and in relation to other people. The movement is spurred by an understanding of the relationship between psycho-emotional with social and biological factors and the advancing fields of assisted reproductive technologies, which have shaped what counselling has come to mean.

The Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine in Bangalore program by Medline Academics integrates a comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationship between infertility and stress. It emphasizes the important role of infertility counselling as part of a multidisciplinary approach, and acknowledges that infertility is both a cause and consequence of psychological distress. Through evidence-based practices, the fellowship provides aspiring reproductive health professionals with specialized training in the medical and psychological aspects of infertility, ensuring they can overcome the unique challenges of individuals and couples meeting. By incorporating counselling services such as psychological assessment, decision support, and medical interventions, the program fosters a holistic approach that aligns with the growing field of assisted reproductive technologies. The strategy, therefore, enables the health professionals give not just the active treatment but also emotional advocacy thus providing positive outcomes to the patients and solving the psychosocial barriers associated with dealing infertility.

As a leading IVF Centers in Bangalore, Dr. Kamini Rao Hospitals is dedicated to providing comprehensive care for couples navigating the challenges of infertility. Through its Fellowship in Reproductive Medicine program, the clinic combines current clinical remedies with specialised counselling services to cope with both the bodily and emotional factors of infertility. This holistic approach ensures that sufferers acquire personalised care, fostering desire and resilience on their adventure closer to parenthood.