Synopsis
Various hypotheses regarding the psychopathology of infertility are reviewed. In the female, the immature dependent, and masculine-aggressive personality are said to be associated with infertility. Confusion of sexual identity is considered a factor in the psychogenesis of both male and female infertility. Two carefully designed clinical studies are reviewed and show conflicting results which may be due to a different experimental design. The neuro-endocrine and autonomic mechanisms by which abnormal psychological factors could contribute to infertility are briefly reviewed. The paucity of sound clinical data on both personality and psychophysiological factors is emphasised. The difficulties of experimental design are discussed and some suggestions made as to how these can be overcome.