Mamta Vernekar Dighe: What IVF Patients Feel That We Often Never Ask About
Mamta Vernekar Dighe, Founder and Director at Xenith Advanced Fertility Centre, shared on LinkedIn:
“One of the most important things an IVF patient feels is often the one thing we never ask about: Fear
I realized this after a patient walked out of my consultation-and I later understood that I had explained her entire treatment without ever addressing what she was actually afraid of.
That’s what made me start asking every new patient a different question.
Not ‘how are you feeling about the injections.’ Not ‘any concerns about the procedure.’
Just – what are you most afraid of?
Not about the treatment. About the outcome.
The answers changed how I counsel people entirely.
Some say they’re afraid of failure – of going through all of this and having nothing to show for it.
Some say they’re afraid of the unknown – of not knowing how their body will respond, how long this will take.
Some say they’re afraid of what a negative result will mean – for their marriage, for how they see themselves, for who they are outside of this process.
And here’s what the research backs up: fear in IVF isn’t just an emotional side note. It’s an undertreated clinical variable. It shapes treatment decisions. It shapes dropouts. It shapes psychological outcomes long after the cycle ends.
When we don’t ask about it, we’re not being neutral – we’re leaving something untreated.
So now I ask about fear before I explain treatment. Not after. Before.
Because I have understood that there are factors beyond reports, protocols and numbers.
And that’s the question nobody is asking.”
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