Introduction: Infertility phenomenon and especially its psychosocial aspects are very important and recognition of interaction between infertility and these aspects will have a great impact on quality of life improvement. In this study, we determined the prevalence and severity of depression and the effectiveness of psychiatric interventions on the rate of depression in infertile couples referred to Vali-Asr Reproductive Health Research Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran.

Methods: This research was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, 638 infertile patients were assessed in a cross-sectional study, and in the second stage, 140 volunteer couples were assigned to two groups of intervention (70 couples) and control (70 couples).The intervention group was treated with fluoxetine based on severity of disease, and cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive psychotherapy for a period of six months. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Stress scale (Holmes-Rahe) and a demographic-social questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed with t-test, paired t-test, chi-square, and logistic regression.

Results: Depressive disorder was detected in 48% of women and 23.8% of men. Prevalence in women was twice that in men. Depression was more frequent in those with primary education, housewife women, 19-25 year olds, middle children of families, subjects with stress (especially severe stress), persons using emotional coping mechanism, and persons who believed ‘marriage is generation’. These relationships were statistically significant (p<0.0001).The results showed that mean of Beck's score diminished from 18.7 (SD = 9.7) in intervention group to 10.7 (SD = 5.8) in control group, that shows the considerable effect of psychiatric interventions (pharmacotheapy and psychotherapy) in reduction of depression symptoms (p<0.0001). Highest degree of this effectiveness was observed in women, 19-25 year olds, housewife women, persons with primary education, low economic levels, and in those with attitude of ‘chance’ to marriage. These relationship were statistically significant (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: High prevalence of depression in infertile couples and effectiveness of psychiatric interventions, whose effect was significant in this study, demands serious attention to psychiatric treatment of this group of patients. This will undoubtedly lead to their better mental health and improvement of quality of life.