By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 4, 2012

A new EU study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the different stress points that challenge women as they struggle to become pregnant.

Researchers looked at the stress of not being able to naturally conceive and the stress associated with the difficult decision to undergo and then receive fertility treatments.

In the study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, researchers examined experiences of patients in four countries with the highest number of cases of assisted reproduction cycles in Europe: France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Researchers acknowledge that the inability to normally conceive is extremely stressful for women who want to have a family.

Infertility causes a series of varied emotions that have a negative impact on important aspects of a womans life, said Dr. Juan Garca Velasco, one of the authors of the study. It is linked to depression, anxiety, anger, cognitive imbalance and low self-esteem.

Researchers analyzed the emotional impact of infertility and also identified aspects of fertility treatments that contribute to the physical and psychological stress suffered by many women.

Investigators studied 445 women, between the ages of 18 and 44 years, who were experiencing difficulties in conceiving. While some had never undergone any fertility treatment, others were receiving it at the time or had already received it in the past two years.

Almost one-third of the participants said they began to worry from the momentthey started trying to get pregnant, and nearly half claimed to have felt ashamed or like a failure as a woman.

Researchers determined that anxiety toward injections and the deterioration of their relationship with their partner were the main causes of stress for the women.

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Study Details Stresses Tied to Fertility Treatments