Jacky Boivin, from the School of Psychology (Cardiff University in Wales, UK) presented at the 23rd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Lyon, France) that complementary therapies in assisted reproduction may diminish the effectiveness of medical treatment for infertility in women.

To resolve fertility problems, many women use complementary or alternative therapies (CATs) even though the effectiveness has not yet been proven. They do that either to increases their chances of getting pregnant or just to reduce their stress on trying to get pregnant.

Dr. Boivin's research also revealed that women who used complementary therapies were more negatively affected by their fertility problems than non-users.

"We found that women who went on to use complementary therapies -- for example reflexology and nutritional supplements -- during their treatments were more distressed and emotionally affected by their fertility problems than non-users.

This difference in stress may mean that women used CATs for stress reduction, and if this were the case it would be important for future research to establish whether CATs achieve this goal more effectively than conventional psychological therapies."

Find more details from the full report.