How to Cope with Loneliness During Fertility Treatment
Posted on May 31, 2022
Are you not feeling yourself since beginning fertility treatment? Do you have people around you, but still find yourself lonelier than ever before? Perhaps you feel like you’re not participating in your life the way you once did. You avoid certain people or experiences because it triggers feelings of loss. You believe others do not or cannot understand what you are going through.
If this sounds like you, trust that you’re not alone – and that it’s possible to overcome these feelings of isolation.
Why you may feel lonely during fertility treatment
Fertility treatment and family building can be isolating as not everyone can relate to the process. When you are acting differently and experiencing the world in a different way, it is common to feel like you don’t know yourself. We have found this experience can trigger a lot of worry and anxiety around people’s identity. They may wonder who they are now, who they are in their relationships, and who they will be from now on. This may lead to feelings of detachment from others.
How to fight off loneliness and isolation while going through fertility treatment
Here are some steps we ask our patients to take to help them navigate these feelings of isolation:
- Consider being compassionate towards your new self during family building. Any additional judgment is likely to trigger feelings of anger towards self.
- Connect with the people you interact with on a regular basis or try creating new connections. Research says that if you think you are isolated, it can impact your intellectual and emotional abilities.
- Practice activities and explore experiences that build your self-esteem. A lot of insecurity can emerge during a time of change. This is a time to rebuild.
- Remember nothing stays the same. You will always experience changes.
- Feeling like you’re alone while going through fertility treatment can make the roller coaster of emotions you’re going through harder to process and manage. But if you have your support network and community there to lean on, your family building journey might not feel as lonely and bumpy.
