DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND SELF-ESTEEM AMONG INFERTILE WOMEN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF LITERATURE
DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND SELF-ESTEEM AMONG INFERTILE WOMEN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the current literature on the impact of infertility on women’s psychological health through systematic methods. A systematic review of the literature for the research of the psychological effects on infertile women was performed. Depression, anxiety and self-esteem were analyzed in the context of women with reproductive problems. Our results indicate that infertile women had higher levels of anxiety and depression, but also a lower self-esteem, compared to women without fertility problems. Almost half of the infertile women, presented in the literature included in this study, reported the presence of psychological problems. The risk factors identified as having important influences on the experience of infertility were age, level of education, employment, duration of infertility, type of infertility, known or unknown cause of infertility, intentionality, perceived social support and treatment for infertility. Of course, these experiences differ from woman to woman, but most of the times, the lifestyle and physical and mental health of infertile women are negatively affected.

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