ABSTRACT
Background: Adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders are amongst the most common psychiatricmorbidities in infertile women in previous studies. Different women cope with the unpredictable, chronicstress of infertility in different ways. Coping strategies may have an impact on the development of psychiatricmorbidity. Hence this study was undertaken.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted by interviewing 68 consecutive patients with primary orsecondary infertility. Socio-demographic details were taken using the study proforma. Psychiatric morbiditywas diagnosed as per ICD-10 criteria. Severity was assessed using HAM-A and MADRS. Coping wasevaluated on the COMPI Coping Strategy Scale. Statistical Packages of Social Sciences version 20 was usedto compile, tabulate and analyze the data.Results: A majority (67.7 %) of infertile females had psychiatric morbidity, the most common beingAdjustment disorder (37 %), followed by Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder (32.6 %) and Mood(depressive) disorder (30.4 %).Conclusion: A high use of active confronting and meaning based coping was seen in majority of the femaleswho did not have psychiatric morbidity. The use of active confronting coping in majority (64.7 %) of thosewith Adjustment disorder was found to be statistically significant