Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Can Help Some Women Become Fertile Again

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Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Mental Health
Article Date: 20 Jun 2006 - 19:00 PDT

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Some women can become fertile again after cognitive behaviour therapy alone, said researchers at a European Fertility Conference, Prague, Czech Republic. They found some perfectionist women who had stopped menstruating and ovulating benefited enormously as a result of having counselling. Several of them had not had periods or ovulated for twenty years.

Up to 10% of pre-menopausal women at any one time are infertile. The number of women who have fertility difficulties is much higher.

Cognitive behaviour therapy is commonly used to treat patients with depression.

The researchers, from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, said that by helping women 'make molehills out of mountains', their fertility can be regained. Many of the women who benefited were perfectionists. Perfectionist people tend to live life in a more stressful way than people who are not. The stresses and demands life places on them can sometimes become overwhelming.

None of the women in this study had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

The researchers found a link between stress hormones and reproductive hormone levels.

Initially, 16 women were studied. None of them had had a period for at least six months. Some of then were mothers. All the women had functional hypothalamic amennhorea (FHA), a condition in which hormones that signal the release of hormones that simulate ovulation have been at a very low level for a long time. The researchers also found that all the women had high levels of cortisol in their bloodstream. Cortisol levels are linked to stress.

Eight of the women received 20 weeks of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) while the other half were observed, but received no treatment.

Six of the eight women receiving CBT became fully fertile during that time. A seventh woman was beginning to get her fertility back. Two of them became pregnant. All of them experienced much lower cortisol levels by the end of the twenty weeks.

Of the eight women who were just observed but received no CBT, one regained her fertility while another one showed signs of starting to regain it.

Telling a woman who wants to get pregnant to relax is not enough, said Prof. Sarah Berga, lead researcher. People need to be taught how to relax.

The researchers now plan to carry out a study on 4,000 nurses. Their aim will be to see what the link is between stress and reproductive hormonal changes.

CBT is much cheaper than traditional fertility treatments.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
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