Mindfulness for Fertility

• Stress of infertility diagnosis.
• Infertility associated identity crisis.
• Dealing with the ongoing infertility treatment.
• High possibility of unsuccessful treatment cycles.
• Choosing treatment options.
• Uncertainty of outcomes of consecutive cycles (nonresponse, abandonment, failure).
• Unwanted effects (repeated cycles of treatments, multiple gestations, high rates of miscarriages, limited live birth rates, and other obstetric risks).

Research on mindfulness and fertility

• By the end of the intervention, women revealed a significant increase in mindfulness, self-compassion, meaning-based coping strategies.
• Inversely, they presented a significant decrease in emotion regulation difficulties, active- and passive-avoidance coping strategies.
• There were statistically significant differences between participants in the pregnancy rates: at six months post-intervention, mindfulness participants were significantly more likely to have become pregnant (45%) than were controls (26%).
• Improves infertility‐related QoL, enhances awareness, increases acceptance and regained control over life.
• Improves the psychological well-being of infertile women, including their self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth.
• Women who attended the program revealed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms, internal and external shame, entrapment, and defeat. Inversely, they presented statistically significant improvement in mindfulness skills and self-efficacy to deal with infertility.
• MBIs led to reduction in emotional distress, pain perception, depression, and anxiety after 3–6 months of continued practice.
• Women in the intervention group had significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and stress and were 4.5 times more likely to become pregnant than those in the control group.