Infertility Counseling

Sharon N. Covington is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. She is also currently the Director of Psychological Support Services at Shady Grove Fertility Reproductive Science Center in Rockville, Maryland. A psychotherapist for over thirty years, she practises individual, couple and group psychotherapy as well as the highly specialized area of infertility counseling. Linda Hammer Burns is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Director of Counseling Services at the Reproductive Medicine Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been a psychologist over twenty years providing individual and couple counseling in women's health psychology with a special focus on reproductive health psychology.

Foreword Roger D. Kempers; Part I. Overview: 1. Psychology of infertility Linda Hammer Burns and Sharon N. Covington; 2. Medical aspects of infertility for the counselor William R. Keye, Jr.; 3. The psychology of gender-specific infertility diagnoses William D. Petok; 4. Cross-cultural issues in infertility counseling Michaela Hynie and Linda Hammer Burns; Part II. Assessment: 5. Psychosocial evaluation of the infertile patient Susan Caruso Klock; 6. Psychopathology and psychopharmacology in the infertile patient Katherine E. Williams and Laurel N. Zappert; 7. Evidenced-based approaches to infertility counseling Jacky Boivin; Part III. Treatment Modalities: 8. Individual counseling and psychotherapy Linda D. Applegarth; 9. Counseling the infertile couple Christopher R. Newton; 10. Group approaches to infertility counseling Sharon N. Covington; 11. Behavioral medicine approaches to infertility counseling Christianne Verhaak and Linda Hammer Burns; 12. Complementary and alternative medicine in infertility counseling Jacqueline N. Gutmann and Sharon N. Covington; 13. Sexual counseling and Infertility Linda Hammer Burns; Part IV. Medical Counseling Issues: 14. Patients with medically complicating conditions Donald B. Maier, Sharon N. Covington and Louise U. Maier; 15. Genetic counseling and the infertile patient Linda Hammer Burns, Krista Redlinger-Grosse and Cheri Schoonveld; 16. Pregnancy loss Sharon N. Covington; Part V. Third-Party Reproduction: 17. Recipient counseling for donor insemination Petra Thorn; 18. Recipient counseling for oocyte donation Patricia L. Sachs and Linda Hammer Burns; 19. The donor as patient: assessment and support Linda D. Applegarth and Sheryl A. Kingsberg; 20. Embryo donation: counseling donors and recipients Linda D. Applegarth; 21 Surrogacy and gestational carrier participants Hilary Hanafin; Part VI. Alternative Family Building: 22. Adoption after infertility Linda P. Salzer; 23. Involuntary childlessness Gretchen Sewall and Linda Hammer Burns; Part VII. Postinfertility Counseling Issues: 24. Ending treatment Janet E. Takefman; 25. Pregnancy after infertility Sharon N. Covington and Linda Hammer Burns; 26 Parenting after infertility Linda Hammer Burns; 27. Assisted reproductive technology and the impact on children Dorothy A. Greenfeld and Susan Caruso Klock; Part VIII. Infertility Counseling in Practice: 28. Infertility counseling in practice: a collaborative reproductive healthcare model Sharon N. Covington; 29. Ethical aspects of infertility counseling Nancy Stowe Kader and Dorothy A. Greenfeld; 30 Legal issues in infertility counseling Margaret E. Swain; 31. Global perspectives on infertility counseling Jean M. Haase and Eric Blyth; Appendixes; 1. Qualification guidelines for mental health professionals in reproductive medicine; 2. International comparison of standards/guidelines for infertility counselors; 3. Comprehensive psychosocial history for infertility (CPHI); 4. Psychological fertility-related questionnaires; 5. Recommended guidelines for the screening and counseling of oocyte donors; 6. Psychological guidelines for embryo donation; 7. Psychological guidelines for evaluation and counseling of gestational carriers and intended parents; 8. Release of information example; 9. Informed consent: pre-psychological counseling and/or evaluation example; 10. Informed consent: proceeding with fertility treatments: post-MHP consultation/evaluation example; 11. Embryo donor consents: consent of couple to donate frozen embryos Example; 12. Embryo recipients' consents: consent to receive thawed donated embryos example; Resources; Glossary; Author index; Subject index.