Neurophysiology of cognitive behavioural therapy, deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation used in conjunction with ART treatments: a narrative review

AbstractBACKGROUNDInfertility is defined as the failure to achieve clinical pregnancy after 12  months of regular unprotected intercourse. It could be due to male or female factors, each requiring different treatment options. ART treatment exposes couples to numerous psychological stressors. Therefore, it has been recommended by the ESHRE Psychology and Counselling Guideline Development Gro up recently that psychosocial support should be offered as a complementary therapy during infertility treatments. In this context, the efficiency of different psychological interventions, such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), deep breathing (DB), and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), was eva luated in several clinical trials in terms of couples’ mental health and pregnancy outcomes.OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALEThe neurophysiology of CBT, DB and PMR, which are used in interventional studies, in both men and women undergoing ART, has not yet been fully elucidated. This review represents a comprehensive report, aiming to collate novel insights into the neurobiological processes and physiological mechanisms that occur during the practice of CBT, DB and PMR.SEARCH METHODSPubMed, Google Scholar and Cochrane Library were interrogated to conduct this comprehensive literature review. The search was carried out using combinations of MeSH terms and keywords: infertility, assisted reproductive techniques, IVF, ICSI, emotions, psychological stress, cognitive behavioural therapy, mind-body therapi...
Source: Human Reproduction Update - Category: OBGYN Source Type: research