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Psychological Issues in Infertility: An Historical Overview

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Technology and Infertility

Abstract

The mental health profession has taken an interesting odyssey through infertility during the last 50 years. The twists and turns of that journey reveal as much about the state of the psychiatric arts as they do about infertility. The following is a historical and evolutionary overview of some of the salient psychological issues in infertility.

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Bernstein, J. (1993). Psychological Issues in Infertility: An Historical Overview. In: Seibel, M.M., Bernstein, J. (eds) Technology and Infertility. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9205-7_25

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