Psychological improvement in infertile women after behavioral treatment: a replication

Authors
Alice D. Domar, Ph.D., Patricia C. Zuttermeister, M.A., Machalle Seibel, M.D., Herbert Benson, M.D.
Publication
Fertility and Sterility
Volume 58, Issue 1, p. 144-147
Abstract

Objective: To replicate previously reported psychological improvements in infertile women attending a group behavioral treatment program.

Design: Psychological and demographic data were collected before entering and again upon completion of a behavioral medicine program on a second cohort of patients.

Setting: The program was offered in the Division of Behavioral Medicine, an outpatient clinic of the Department of Medicine at New England Deaconess Hospital. All patients were receiving care from infertility specialists not affiliated with this hospital.

Patients: Fifty two self-referred women receiving medical treatment for infertility attended the program.

Intervention: A 10-week group behavioral treatment program.

Main outcome measures: Three validated psychological instruments.

Results: Psychological improvement was statistically significant (Profile of Mood States Tension/Anxiety: P less than 0.0001; Depression/Dejection: P less than 0.0122; Vigor/Activity: P less than 0.0431; Confusion/Bewilderment: P less than 0.0057; Spielberger Anger Expression: P less than 0.0013; Spielberger State Anxiety: P less than 0.0037, and Trait Anxiety: P less than 0.0001).

Conclusions: Behavioral treatment is associated with significant decreases in negative psychological symptoms.

Related Listings
Psychological Factors in Healing: A New Perspec...
Authors
Samuel S. Myers, Herbert Benson
Journal
Behavioral Medicine
·
Over the last 20 years, medical researchers from a variety of disciplines, including behavioral medicine, neuro-immunology, neuroendocrinology, social medicine, and psychiatry, have converged in an effort to produce greater understanding and acceptance of the effects of psychological factors on physical health. Many in the medical profession have remained somewhat skeptical, claiming that psychological components of healing are largely "folklore", unsubstantiated by hard evidence. The […]
Nonpharmacologic Intervention for Hypertension ...
Authors
Jane Leserman, PhD, Eileen M Stuart, RN, MS, Mary E. Mamish, BA, John P. Desckro, RN, MS, Rita J. Beckman, RN, MS, Richard Friedman, PhD, Herbert Benson, MD
Journal
Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation
We previously reported reduced blood pressure, psychological symptoms, and other cardiac risk factors in hypertensive patients who participated in a nonpharmacologic, outpatient behavioral program. The present study is a 3 to 5 year follow-up of 59 (60%) of the same patients (who served as their own controls) to assess continued efficacy of the program. At entry into the study, patients had hypertension for a median of 6 years. Therefore, it is unlikely that placebo effect could expla […]
Relaxation Response Induces Temporal Transcript...
Authors
Manoj K. Bhasin, Jeffery A. Dusek, Bei-Hung Chang, Marie G. Joseph, John W. Denninger, Gregory L. Fricchione, Herbert Benson, Towia A. Libermann
Journal
PLOS ONE
The relaxation response (RR) is the counterpart of the stress response. Millennia-old practices evoking the RR include meditation, yoga and repetitive prayer. Although RR elicitation is an effective therapeutic intervention that counteracts the adverse clinical effects of stress in disorders including hypertension, anxiety, insomnia and aging, the underlying molecular mechanisms that explain these clinical benefits remain undetermined. To assess rapid time-dependent (temporal) genomic […]