Some General Info To Start:
	The program incorporates the complete Domar program over a 10 week period. It is designed to meet the unique needs of women and their partners in infertility treatment.

Alice Domar, Ph.D. developed this program over the past 12 years. I have trained with her in Boston and am now offering this program in South Florida. The program is very structured and utilizes only the most well researched psychological techniques used in the assessment and treatment of anxiety and depression.

OUR PHILOSOPHY: Pregnancy is a delicate sequence of events. This goes well beyond just your reproductive system. Your entire system has to support the process; this of course includes both your mind and body. Mind/Body work can help to bring into balance those elements that are so necessary for a successful pregnancy to occur.

In developing our program, we have utilized all of the latest research findings on the positive impact of psychological interventions when used in conjunction with medical infertility treatment.

Clinical outcomes for participants in these studies show: 1) Statistically significant decreases in physical symptoms of stress, 2) Statistically significant decreases in all measured psychological symptoms 3) Over a 50% pregnancy rate. ( vs. 20 % in control group -See article 1, Results-page 808)

By participating in our program, participants learn to cope better with the stress of infertility. Through medical studies, it has become much clearer that reducing stress may increase your success with infertility treatment. Our program is designed to decrease the physical and psychological symptoms of stress, reduce isolation and educate participants on the potential adverse impact of certain lifestyle behaviors on their reproductive health.

Key Reasons to Participate:

There are some very key reasons why we feel strongly about helping patients maintain the lowest distress level possible. 1) Women in infertility treatment can exhibit depression levels comparable to those diagnosed with cancer. We do not want patients to feel sad, anxious, guilty, lonely or angry as they go through fertility treatment. The physical rigors of fertility treatment are enough to manage.

2) Research shows that the level of distress may impact the success of treatment. The most recent study showed that women who were the most anxious and depressed prior to their IVF treatment cycle were 93% less likely to conceive than the least distressed women.

3) A study published in February 2004 shows that the #1 reason patients drop out of fertility treatment is not because their physician was discouraging them from continuing, but because of their distress.

Infertility can affect every aspect of your life. In general, there are two types of people who we know will benefit from our program: Those who are feeling O.K., but anticipate more intense feelings as treatment progresses and want to stay O.K., and those who are already not feeling O.K. Our goal is to have all of our patients at the O.K. end of the scale.