RESEARCH_FILE
The Invisible-Illness Gap
The mismatch between how severe infertility-related distress actually is — on par with cancer or cardiac illness by standardized measures — and how little social recognition, accommodation, or sympathy it gets, because it leaves no visible mark and isn't framed as a disease.
How it sounds in your head
Someone cancels plans after a failed cycle and gets a 'you'll get over it' instead of the concern a friend recovering from chemo would receive — same symptom-checklist score, completely different social response.