Evaluation of temperament/personality traits, alexithymia, psychiatric symptoms, and quality of life in female patients diagnosed with infertility

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the temperament/personality characteristics, alexithymia, psychiatric symptoms, and quality of life of a group of infertile women with the healthy control group, and thus to provide a basis for assessing the possible causal relationship between the phenomenon of infertility and these characteristics. Materials and Methods: Seventy-five women between 18-49 years of age who were diagnosed with infertility in the obstetrics outpatient clinic were included in the patient group and 75 healthy female individuals in the control group. Beck Depression Inventory, State Trait Anxiety Scale (STAI I-II), Quality of Life Scale, TEMPS Temperament Scale, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale were administered to all participants, and a semi-structured interview form was employed to question the clinical-sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Depression and anxiety scores of the patient group were higher than the control group's scores and the differences were statistically significant. The quality of life scale scores of the patient group were found to be lower in each sub-scale, and the differences were statistically significant. TheTemps-A sub-scales scores of the patient group were higher with statistically significant differences. Conclusion: Our findings support the need to investigate the possible accompanying psychosocial disorders in women receiving infertility treatment. The psychological support will be important for this group of women in terms of positively affecting the outcome during the treatment process