INFERTILITY AND THE CONTRACEPTIVE CONSULTATION – CONCLUSION
To those who decide the time is right for the wanted baby, a pregnancy is achieved by the majority of couples within the first two years of trying to conceive. Modern contraception has encouraged people to feel in control of their lives so that when its use is discontinued, expectations of an ensuing pregnancy occurring immediately are very high. When one does not occur, the emotional anxieties begin to feature very largely in the daily agenda of the woman, and sometimes of the couple.
The most common single problem, accounting for a quarter of all infertility problems, is that of sperm defect or dysfunction. Nearly a half are caused by a mixture of female problems, another quarter by unexplained reasons, and finally 6% due to coital problems. These are useful figures to remember when trying to put infertility problems into perspective and form a balanced view of the cause, if any. However, they do not give any indication of the amount of emotional disturbance felt by the individuals involved. The feelings of failure, utter disbelief and sometimes denial that they are in this situation can be seen in such statements as, ‘We’re not ready for children yet’ or ‘We’re quite busy enough with our dogs at the moment’.
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