Infertility and Mental Health – World Mental Health Day
This World Mental Health Day 2025, we are proud to stand with millions of others worldwide to raise awareness of the impact of mental health challenges linked to infertility, and to highlight the effectiveness of specialist fertility counselling in managing mental health through a fertility journey.
Each year, World Mental Health Day provides an important opportunity to highlight the value of mental health, to promote well-being, and to encourage access to support and care for all.
One growing group of people face an especially emotional mental health challenge: the estimated one in six couples worldwide who are facing infertility.
How Infertility Affects Mental Health
Beyond the physical struggles of a fertility journey, infertility can take a heavy toll on mental and emotional wellbeing.
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), infertility can trigger feelings of denial, guilt, anger, grief, and isolation – and in many cases, these feelings can lead to clinical anxiety or depression.
Existing mental health challenges such as anxiety or depression can worsen fertility struggles, while strong mental health factors such as resilience, positive relationships, and self-acceptance are associated with better treatment outcomes.
This shows why a holistic approach to infertility – addressing both physical and psychological health – is essential.
A Holistic Approach To Treatment
Psychological evaluation before starting treatment helps identify each individual’s unique strengths, risk factors, and coping abilities.
Ongoing support during the treatment process can help reduce distress, manage expectations, and improve resilience.
Education also plays a key role: the more patients understand about infertility and their treatment, the less anxiety they experience.
It’s also vital to note that some fertility medications may have psychiatric side effects, while some antidepressant treatments may impact fertility: an important reason why a collaborative approach between fertility specialists and mental health professionals is so important.
The Importance Of Counselling And Support
Infertility affects every part of life, from your self-image and relationships to daily routines. Many couples benefit from the support of friends, family, and caregivers, but professional counselling can provide additional and invaluable guidance.
You may find counselling particularly helpful if you experience persistent sadness, anxiety, mood swings, social withdrawal, or constant preoccupation with infertility, or if you have difficulty concentrating or changes in sleep and appetite, or if you are experience tension with your partner.
Professional support can help manage these challenges and develop healthy coping strategies.
Mental health support is especially valuable at key stages of treatment, for example when:
– weighing different treatment options,
– considering donor gametes or surrogacy, or
– making decisions after an unsuccessful cycle.
Talking through these choices with a counsellor can provide clarity, reduce stress, and strengthen communication between partners.
Counselling And Support At Cape Fertility
At Cape Fertility, we recognise that the fertility journey is as much an emotional experience as it is a medical one. To support our patients fully, we have a team of dedicated clinical psychologists, who have a special interest in reproductive health and fertility related counselling.
The counselling aim is to help patients reduce the level of stress associated with treatment and infertility. Option include couple counselling, stress-management, infertility-related counselling, assessment and evaluation (for example in a surrogate pregnancy) and psycho-education.
Specialist fertility counselling can help patients cope with the unique and intense stress points during fertility treatment, such as waiting for egg retrieval or pregnancy results, facing an unsuccessful cycle, or adjusting to alternative family-building options like donor gametes or surrogacy.
Reach Out To Us
We have seen time after time that with the right support many couples find that the emotional challenges of infertility can become opportunities for personal growth, resilience, and stronger relationships.
If infertility is affecting your mental health, we encourage you to connect with our supportive team at Cape Fertility by simply reaching out to us here.
At Cape Fertility, we value each individual patient and we look forward to providing you with individualised and personalised care, affordable quality fertility treatment, and higher success rates at our purpose-built premises in the beautiful city of Cape Town.