In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is the process to fertilize an egg with sperm outside the body. Nowadays, people who cannot have natural pregnancies can go for IVF treatments to conceive a child. Here, IVF counseling plays an important role to keep you informed about all possibilities including social, legal and psychological implications of the various treatments. In this article, we will discuss IVF Counseling and what to expect from it.
IVF counseling provides a non-judgmental platform so you can clear your doubts about the solutions and make a choice that suits you the best. It is an advanced approach where therapeutic support is provided to address the problems and clear your confusion regarding the treatment and whether or not you wish to continue it.
Guidelines for Counseling in Infertility
- How infertility counseling is different from other counseling
- Fundamental issues in counseling
- Integration of patient-centered care and counseling
- Situations that provoke the requirement for counseling
- Third-party (donor) reproduction
- Psychosocial implications
Counseling in infertility is dealt under different categories such as the objective, purpose, common issues and communication skills that are necessary for providing psychological care to the patient.
These guidelines are intended to promote decision making and facilitate the client’s potential throughout IVF treatment. It will help you to discover and develop psychological potentialities. The basic implication of counseling in infertility is to ensure that the patient gets to know about the implications of their chosen treatment, obtain emotional support and cope positively with the consequences of infertility experience. The counseling guidelines should be followed properly to reduce negative psychological reactions and increase patient satisfaction.
Importance of Infertility Counseling
IVF counseling is important to comprehend, understand and solve problems being caused by infertility or infertility treatment. Along with finding solutions to the problems, counseling also helps to clarify ways to deal with the problem and its consequences effectively.
Counseling during infertility treatment usually includes various counseling sessions. Counseling invokes transparency between the client and the doctor and other medical staff. During these sessions, the doctor listens to all the queries and concerns of the client and then comes up with a proper answer. Counseling also helps the client by replacing their misconceptions with the right information and positivity.
People often have a lot of taboos regarding assisted reproductive techniques which are cleared by doctors during the counseling. As a patient, you can discuss anything with the doctor and it will be kept confidential..
There is always a therapeutic aspect involved with infertility counseling. It helps you to reduce the stress that is caused by many problems related to infertility. Usually, fertility specialists and fertility counselors are the best counselors especially if they satisfy you with their answers. These specialists have a lot of experience and knowledge hence they are the best individuals to answer your questions.
When would I visit a fertility counselor?
Mostly, people visit a fertility counselor when they are just thinking about getting this treatment but not sure about its implications. They have many questions and doubts that they want to clear before going for the treatment. Women who are not able to conceive for a long time often feel troubled and when they think about getting fertility treatment, they feel more stressed because of the uncertainty of the treatment. These are the situations when you should visit a fertility counselor.
You will not be forced to get treatment during your counseling sessions because counseling is about helping make the right choice. The final decision will always be yours hence you should clear all your doubts without any hesitations during counseling sessions.
If you find it hard to talk to your relatives, family members or friends then you can visit a fertility counselor and talk about your concerns. These sessions are also done during your infertility treatment so you can always change or improve your decision.
When should you visit a fertility Counselor:
- Not able to talk about it to your friends or relatives
- Not sure about the treatment
- Persistent feeling of sadness or guilt due to infertility
- Marital issues
- Depression and mood swings
- Difficult with scheduled intercourse
Conclusion
Fertility counseling is the best way to make the right choices if you are having issues due to your infertility or willing to take some fertility treatment. The counseling sessions are very helpful for you to overcome any doubts and make things clear. If you are willing to take IVF counseling then you should visit an expert counsellor with experience in the field to get the best advice and counseling. We hope that this article helped you to know about fertility or IVF Counseling and what to expect from it.
We hope that all your fertility-related concerns get cleared and you make the right decision. Wish you the success of your parenthood journey with IVF.
