Psychologist

[Sunny56]

Hi

Have you ever seen a psychologist because of infertility? To learn how to deal with emotions etc. If so, did it help, how much did you pay per session? I don't mean a counselling session.

I have just started seeing one. I find it really helpful to have a time set aside when I know I can complain and talk about it as much as I want without worrying about my friends or family become fed up or being a bore! My sessions are £95 each which is expensive, but similar to what I would pay for fertility acupuncture/massage etc which I have tried but didn't enjoy or find helpful. xx

Yes, I saw a psychologist for 6 months as I needed to learn to deal with the crippling anxiety that IVF was generating. I found CBT really helpful for that.

I agree with @rose88xx that it was significantly more useful than acupuncture. By the time I saw the psychologist I was utterly fed up of allied health professionals (acupuncturists, etc) offering their two bits on how if I tweaked what I ate/took/did, I might fall pregnant as I was internalising the message that it was my behaviour (and not a rather bad case of endo) that was the cause of ongoing fertility.

I did look for a psychologist with an interest in infertility related trauma as it is important to see someone with a basic understanding of the process.

It’s about £100/session but I was able to get a course of 10 paid by private health insurance. If you have an Employee Assistance Program they’re also worth looking into.

@rose88xx and @Porridgeislife what are the names of your psychologists?

I am really struggling to find a psychologist who specialists in infertility. I am either having counselors come up when searching databases or psychologists who seem to have ticked every specialist area including infertility.

I would really like to find a psychologist who fully understands IVF, I don't want to spend the whole session explaining the process :(