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Talking treatment 'could restore fertility'21 June 2006 Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could provide the answer to the problem of infertility for some women, according to a new study. Professor Sarah L Berga of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia told a conference in Prague that psychological help could reduce stress, which could in turn help restore ovulation. Research carried out at Emory University found increased levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol in patients suffering from a type of infertility called functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea. This is a condition affecting women of normal weight who have not menstruated in six months. Half of the 16 women in the study were given 20 weeks of CBT. The other half were observed by the researchers. Professor Berga said that 80 per cent of the women given therapy had started to ovulate again at the end of the trial period, as opposed to 25 per cent of those who were untreated. The new findings, she claimed, challenged the belief that failure to ovulate is the result of too much exercise or poor nutrition - suggesting that it is in fact the stress that lies behind a need to diet or take exercise that is producing infertility. "Often dieting and exercise are a way of coping with psychosocial stress, and our previous work had shown that such stress is often increased in women who do not ovulate," Professor Berga commented. Experiments are now to be carried out on more women. If the larger study produces similar results, Professor Berga says, there will be "very strong evidence for offering stress reduction for a significant group of infertile women". More information
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