Psychological Aspects of Infertility Post-Injury

This chapter explores how service members with injuries that damage sexual and reproductive functioning may experience the psychosocial implications of impaired fertility. It addresses a general overview of infertility and then describes the experience within the military context. Infertility can be an invisible, secondary wound that is not felt until one considers procreation and that may last for many years. Further, infertility is an injury that affects not only the service member but also his or her partner. Many ethical considerations and barriers, including limited insurance coverage and accessibility for treatment, make it difficult to access technologies for reproduction. Fertility preservation and sperm harvesting should be considered as options by service members before deployment. While advances in technologies can help injured service members to procreate, the challenges and emotional fallout are significant and need to be addressed in treatment, counseling, and public policy.