Researchers have failed to establish infertility as a crisis or to identify an emotional reaction that is common to women who are faced with an inability to conceive. Many women, however, express a desire for counseling in conjunction with infertility treatment. This discrepancy in the research presents confusion for the clinician who is developing psychological interventions while working with infertile women. Infertility is approached in this article as a personal crisis that is based on a conflict between an ideal self as mother or woman and a real self as infertile. E. T. Higgins's (see record 1987-34444-001) self-discrepancy theory is proposed as a model for understanding the variability in the levels of distress and the types of emotional reactions to infertility. Clinical implications are discussed in relation to the variability of emotional reactions in female infertility clients, the selection of assessment techniques, and the selection of intervention techniques. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
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