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I Think I Can

Mental Health and Conception

By Shel Franco

If you're like many women, your mind runs constantly -- remembering, dreaming and worrying. It's enough to make you lose sleep. Did you ever wonder if it could keep you from getting pregnant?

"I tend to obsess a lot," says Karma Fitzgerald of Shoshone, Idaho. "I would get so caught up in planning and timing and everything else that I wouldn't relax. All I know is that the moment I decided to stop worrying about conception, I got pregnant." Although it's considered taboo to tell an infertile couple that relaxation is all they need to conceive, Fitzgerald's story isn't unusual.

Margaret Paul, PhD, a relationship expert and best-selling author, recalls that many of her friends and clients believed they wanted children but could not conceive until they either adopted or started the adoption process. Dr. Paul concludes that, "Some fear kept them from getting pregnant."

Can emotions alter biological processes? "I think that this is a very difficult topic," says Susan Dantoni, M.D., an obstetrician and gynecologist in Geneva, N.Y. "From a purely scientific perspective, there is no evidence that stress and depression diminish a woman's fertility biologically, [as in] inhibiting ovulation and conception."

Yet, foreign researchers are beginning to show a different story. A study conducted at two university hospitals in Denmark concluded that psychological distress may indeed be a risk factor for infertility in some women.

Regardless, the absence of hard, straightforward scientific evidence doesn't belittle the fact that stress and depression can affect your lifestyle enough so that conceiving becomes difficult.

Want to see more?

• When is it Time to See an Infertility Specialist?
• Acupuncture and Infertility
• Considering Pregnancy Later in Life

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