PREGNANCY AND FERTILITY
There are many emotional issues around fertility and pregnancy.
Pregnancy:
Having a baby can be a very welcome event.
However, pregnancy comes with its challenges such as morning sickness, tiredness, change of body shape etc.
Pregnancy is also an emotional time where hormones are raging and emotions are erratic.
Once you have the baby, you can experience the baby blues or post natal depression. This can often be difficult to understand and deal with, especially if the baby was unplanned.
If a person has other emotional issues which are unresolved before the pregnancy, then these can be triggered during pregnancy and increase the chances of post natal depression.
Psychotherapy is a very useful platform for working through your emotions and how you are feeling about all the changes to your life and your body.
By working through your emotions in a safe environment, they become less strong and intrusive. It gives you time to think and feel in your busy world.
Infertility:
This is described as the inability to become pregnant.
This can happen for many reasons. It can also happen at any time. Some people experience not being able to conceive a second child when they have had one already.
This can lead to feelings of frustration, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, guilt, and feelings of worthlessness in life.
A person can feel like they can’t do something that others seem to be able to do easily and sometimes unexpectedly.
There is also an emotional journey to go through while trying to get pregnant, from the treatments and the procedures, to the heart-breaking decisions.
There is a lot of loss and grief involved in infertility and the reassessment of life goals. The process can put couples under pressure, both financially and emotionally.
Psychotherapy can help a person to work through all the emotions of grief, loss and anger and help them to understand what they are going through. It can also help ease the pressure on the relationship.