Emotional Numbness in IVF Patients: When Coping Becomes Psychological Shutdown- A Narrative Review

Infertility and assisted reproductive technologies, particularly in IVF, are often accompanied by significant psychological challenges. The existing literature has largely focused on anxiety, depression, and stress among the patients, but it has given less attention towards emotional numbness and emotional blunting as a distinct psychological response. This narrative review aims to explore the phenomenon of emotional numbness in IVF patients, examining how coping strategies may gradually evolve into psychological shutdown when sustained over time. This review further discusses therapeutic implications, emphasizing the need for humanistic and IVF-specific counselling approaches that validate emotional numbness within the discourse on infertility-related mental health, this review seeks to contribute to a nuanced and compassionate understanding of emotional experiences of individual undergoing IVF treatment.