Research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy can improve stress levels and mental health as well as improve your ability to conceive. At Dallas CBT, our approach to reproductive wellness focuses on enhancing physical health for those trying to conceive naturally or through medical treatments such as IVF, improving stress and anxiety management, and strengthening your relationships. We provide individual therapy with a focus on health as well as couples therapy to support and enhance your relationship during this time.
The process of trying to grow your family can be an exciting and hopeful time, but often times, it can also be stressful, lonely, and cause feelings of helplessness. Whether your experience of trying to conceive has been long or short, positive or distressing, this is a period of time where a focus on your wellbeing and extra support can be critical for both your reproductive and mental health.
Struggles with fertility can impact many areas of your life, including marital or relationship satisfaction, your emotional state, time management and scheduling, sex life, and your ability to connect and receive support from others. Intimacy and satisfaction in your relationship plays an important role in your wellbeing and the process of trying to conceive. Some of the common relationship challenges experienced during this time include dissatisfaction with your sex life, difficulty coming to agreements about plans around fertility, not feeling understood by your partner, and a sense of loneliness within the relationship. From an emotional standpoint, many women and men experience feelings of helplessness, blame and shame, a lack of control, and difficulty with the uncertainty around the process.
Therapy can help if you experience any of the following:
- Spending more time and energy than you’d like on issues around fertility
- Stress or anxiety related to fertility
- Your relationship has been strained
- Worry associated with conceiving after a pregnancy loss
- Sex feels like a chore or functioning around sex has changed
- You’re adjusting to medical fertility treatment
- You find it difficult to get support or understanding from others
- There’s been a change in your quality of life
Individual Therapy for issues related to Fertility
Our individual therapy approach, which involves Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT), aims to increase positive health behaviors, shift unhelpful ways of thinking around the process of trying to conceive, and improve how we respond to and cope with elements outside of our control. Our therapists will incorporate exploration of your personal values as they relate to your family planning. Therapy may also involve making healthy lifestyle changes that help you achieve optimal wellness and enhance the fertility process.
Couples Therapy for Fertility and Conception
When working with a couple, the approach we use is emotionally focused therapy (EFT), the goal of EFT is to help the couple create acceptance around their fertility journey, establish new ways of responding to each other that foster closeness and secure attachment and help the couple create a shared meaning and vision for their future. Therapy will typically include identifying problematic patterns of behavior, finding new solutions to past problems and helping each partner to better understand their partner’s emotions.