Psychiatric symptoms in Turkish infertile women

Abstract

The aims of this study were to determine the psychiatric symptoms which may develop because of infertility in Turkish women and to find out the precipitating factors. Fifty women with primary infertility and 50 healthy controls were evaluated using the Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Rosenberg self-esteem scale and Symptom Checklist scale. They were also asked to describe the reactions received from their husband, husbands' families and social group because of infertility. Psychiatric symptoms were not significantly different between the two groups. However, within the infertile group, depression and anxiety were more frequent in the women who received negative reactions from their husband, their husbands' families and social group. Depression, anxiety and self-esteem were improved in the infertile women as age and the duration of infertility increased. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the reactions the infertile women are faced with play an important role in the development of certain psychiatric symptoms.