AssistedConception.org

It is likely that every woman on the planet who has experienced infertility has heard from someone, or from lots of someones, to “just relax”. Or to “stop trying so hard”, or to “just adopt and you will get pregnant” or one of a thousand silly remarks which might have been meant to help you, but end up doing just the opposite.

Telling someone who is doing everything in her power to conceive a healthy baby to “just relax” is insulting, demeaning, and insinuates that her stress level is causing her infertility.
But what is the relationship between stress and infertility? Is it possible that stress is harmless in this situation, that indeed shots and procedures and surgeries override any impact of stress? Or is it possible that indeed stress can play a role in infertility?
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Counselling helps “perfectionist” women regain their fertility and become pregnant, US researchers say. They found cognitive behaviour therapy alone was enough to help some women who had stopped having periods and ovulating to regain their fertility. The therapy is usually used to treat people with depression.

A European fertility conference in Prague heard a build-up of stress can play a major role in preventing a woman from ovulating. But sometimes the effect can build up gradually in a subtle way.

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) can counter this by helping women to “make molehills out of mountains", the researchers said. Many of the women seen by the team were perfectionists - whether they had high-powered jobs or stayed at home - leading to high levels of stress.

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