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Coping with Infertility: Practical Psychosocial Issues

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Office-Based Infertility Practice

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Abstract

Three questions obsess infertile patients. “Am I ever going to be pregnant?” is heard with great frequency by physicians working with this population. Though patients may dread the answer, their longing for pregnancy and their fears that parenthood is forever out of reach compel them to ask the question. The other two questions are usually unspoken but are fueled by the ceaseless distress and anxiety patients suffer because of their inability to conceive: “Am I losing my mind?” and even more frightening “Is the distress that I feel preventing me from getting pregnant?” Physicians working with infertile individual(s) serve their patients well when they anticipate all three questions and when they include psychological support and counseling as an integral part of a comprehensive treatment plan.

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Authors
  1. Dorothy A. Greenfeld
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 303 George Street, 08901, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

    David B. Seifer M.D. (Director, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences) (Director, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences)

  2. UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 303 George Street, 08901, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

    David B. Seifer M.D. (Director, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences) (Director, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences)

  3. The Reproductive Center, 44514, Youngstown, Ohio, USA

    Robert L. Collins M.D. (Medical Director, Reproductive Endocrinologist, Associate Professor) (Medical Director, Reproductive Endocrinologist, Associate Professor)

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northeast Ohio University College of Medicine, 44272, Rootstown, Ohio, USA

    Robert L. Collins M.D. (Medical Director, Reproductive Endocrinologist, Associate Professor) (Medical Director, Reproductive Endocrinologist, Associate Professor)

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Greenfeld, D.A. (2002). Coping with Infertility: Practical Psychosocial Issues. In: Seifer, D.B., Collins, R.L. (eds) Office-Based Infertility Practice. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87690-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87690-5_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-87692-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-87690-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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