What is Egg Donor and Egg Donor Recipient Psychological Screening Like?

If you are planning to donate your eggs or are planning to be a recipient of an egg donation, do not be surprised if you are told by your clinic or agency that you need psychological screening before proceeding. For most people, ‘psychological screening’ sounds like a test that needs to be passed in order to donate or to become parents. This can create tension, annoyance, and even anger. Some look at this step as another obstacle to meeting their end goal or just another box that needs to be checked before moving forward. But in essence, good quality programs require this meeting to ensure you understand the consequences, and are mentally prepared for all that comes along with donating or receiving donor eggs. 

As a psychologist who regularly performs these psychological screenings, my goal is to make sure you have explored all the ethical, social, and emotional ramifications that come with egg donation. This meeting allows you to think about both the short and long-term impacts of egg donation. It gives you things to ponder that you may not have thought about, and allows you the opportunity to ask questions that you were afraid to ask in an open and safe space. In this article, I will give you a glimpse into what this screening process can be like for both egg donors and recipients.

Egg donor psychological screening

For egg donors this screening is extremely important because we want to make sure she is fully prepared, ready, and understands what it means to serve as an egg donor. She needs to understand the physical, psychological, and legal risks of donating. We also want to look at why she is donating and identify any potential emotional problems that may be contraindicated to donating. These areas are assessed based on the guidelines set forth by The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). If a donor has a spouse or long-term partner, they may also be included in the evaluation to confirm the presence of support and understanding of the process and how the results of donating could potentially impact them as well. 

Typically, this evaluation includes a clinical interview and a standardized test. The whole process can take anywhere from two to three hours to complete. Types of questions asked include: family, education, and work history, motivation to donate, current life stressors and coping skills, traumatic reproductive history, interpersonal relationships and sexual history, along with any personal and family history of mental health issues. During the evaluation the donor’s understanding of the potential emotional and social risks is also discussed and a large portion of the meeting will focus on the implications for the donor, their current or future children or partners, and how the donation may even affect their extended families. 

Donors should be prepared to share health information about not only themselves but also health information about their family. This includes their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This is because we need to know if there are any possible heritable traits that could be passed on in the genes. This gives the potential parents receiving the eggs with information to make an informed decision about whether or not to work with the donor. 

Intended parent psychological screening

For those receiving oocytes, a psychoeducational consultation with a qualified licensed mental health professional who has training and education in third-party reproduction is strongly recommended. During the consultation, the implications of creating a family using gamete donation is discussed. Important topics such as disclosure are covered:

• How and when do you tell your child they were conceived via egg donation? 
• What are the long-term impacts of the donation on the family? 
• How do you get past the grief of not having your own biological child? 
• What happens if the transfer does not result in a pregnancy? 
• What is the impact of treatment failure, and do you possibly need to develop alternative plans for the future? 
• What if the embryo transfer does result in a pregnancy, what does this new transition to parenthood look like? 
• What are the challenges of donor anonymity and its implications in the future?
• Embryo management is covered, meaning what will happen to embryos that will not be used? Are they discarded? 

This meeting typically takes about one to two hours and both parents are expected to participate in the meeting.

Some programs do not require meeting with a psychologist and make it an optional meeting. I would strongly advise to meet with the psychologist even if it is not required by your clinic or agency. As you can see from above, the meeting will give you invaluable information that will guide the decisions you make and will impact how you move forward as a family that is conceived via egg donation. This meeting will inform how you think, feel and talk about having this child. Take full advantage of this meeting, take notes and ask all the questions.

The psychological screening for both the egg donor and the recipient helps them make informed decisions about egg donation and provides both parties the opportunity to explore how it may impact all involved, both in the present and in the future. Be open, ask questions. Because what you are embarking on is not easy.

Read more:

• I'm a Fertility Psychologist. Here's What I Want You to Know About Growing Your Family Through Egg Donation
• 10 Facts You Need To Know About Using Donor Eggs
• What to Look For in an Egg Donation Agency