Family boundary ambiguity and heart disease among couples with fertility problem: A psychodynamic counselling perspective

Introduction: Promoting an understanding of heart health from an interdisciplinary perspective can be considered a worthy course for clinicians and other relevant health-care professionals. Given that the levels of psychological distress and anxiety are being more acknowledged as key factors in heart health, professional counsellors and psychologists have begun studying heart diseases through the field of cardiac psychology. Study Aim: This article aims at adding to the literature, an understanding of family boundary ambiguity, infertility, and heart disease from a psychodynamic counselling point of view Method: This article is a review article which deals with family boundary ambiguity and heart disease in couples with fertility issues. This review article was drafted after searching for published studies in the area of focus through Google search engine, Google Scholar, PubMed and PsychInfo. Results and Discussion: In this article, the authors argue that infertile women, men, or couples may experience family boundary that is ambiguous. The consequence could be increased susceptibility to cardiovascular heart disease condition. Thus, the authors acknowledged the need for advancing the movement toward greater recognition of the biopsychosocial aspects of heart disease. The authors argues that just as biomedical aspects are being considered if greater successes are to be achieved in cardiovascular disease prevention and management, biopsychosocial interventions for cardiac patients recovery should consider their family and social contexts and psychological well-being. Limitation of utilizing review technique is discussed particularly for understanding those patients whose heart disease is in advanced condition.