Body-mind therapy may ease anxiety of IVF

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A holistic form of group
counseling can help calm some of the anxiety that women
undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) often feel, a new study
suggests.

Researchers in Hong Kong found that a “body-mind-spirit”
form of group support eased anxiety levels in a group of women
about to undergo IVF.

The therapy, according to the study authors, used breathing
exercises, yoga, meditation and other techniques to improve the
women’s sense of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being
– and therefore make them more resilient to the effects of
anxiety.

Celia H. Y. Chan and her colleagues at the University of
Hong Kong report the findings in the medical journal Fertility
and Sterility.

Anxiety is a common response to fertility problems, and to
the prospect of IVF treatment. Couples often view the procedure
as their “very last chance of childbearing,” Chan and her
colleagues note in their report.

In China, they add, fertility problems often carry a
stigma, and women may feel the added stress of hiding the fact
that they are receiving treatment.

For their study, the researchers assigned 101 women to
participate in four 3-hour sessions of group therapy before
having their first IVF attempt. Another 126 women were assigned
to a control group that did not go through therapy.

The researchers used a standard questionnaire to measure
the women’s anxiety levels before group therapy, and then two
more times during the IVF process.

Women in the therapy group, they found, showed reductions
in both anxiety and the importance they attached to being able
to have a child. There was no clear difference, however, in IVF
success rates between the two groups.

Some past studies have found that women with a natural
tendency toward anxiety have lower pregnancy rates when they
attempt IVF, and other research has linked women’s views of
their marital harmony to the odds of IVF success.

Larger studies, according to Chan’s team, should look into
whether the anxiety reductions their therapy brought can
translate into better IVF outcomes.

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, February 2006.