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Psychosocial stress and infertility

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Abstract

Experimental, theoretical, psychological, and economic barriers have caused physicians to rely on biomedical treatments for infertility at the exclusion of more environmentally oriented ones (e.g., psychosocial stress therapy). An evolutionary model is described for the origin of reproductive failure, suggesting why mammals evolved to be reproductively responsive to the environment and why psychosocial stress should have an especially strong impact on fertility problems. A study of the causal role of psychosocial stress in infertility is then summarized. The paper concludes with implications for future directions for the treatment of infertility and related human reproductive problems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Reproductive Endocrinology, XD-44, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington, 98195, Seattle, WA

    Samuel K. Wasser

  2. Center for Wildlife Conservation, 5500 Phinney Ave. N, 98103, Seattle, WA

    Samuel K. Wasser

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  1. Samuel K. Wasser
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Additional information

This work would not have been possible without the collaboration of Gretchen Sewall and Michael Soules. Don Moore provided valuable discussion of the issues addressed in this manuscript.

Samuel Wasser is Assistant Professor in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of Washington School of Medicine as well as Scientific Director of the Center for Wildlife Conservation in Seattle. His interests include the behavioral ecology and endocrinology of reproductive control, and conservation biology.

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Wasser, S.K. Psychosocial stress and infertility. Human Nature 5, 293–306 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692156

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692156

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