The Infertility Workbook: A Mind-Body Program to Enhance Fertility, Reduce Stress, and Maintain Emotional Balance

by Barbara Blitzer LCSW-C, MEd, Rafat Abbasi MD, FACOG (Foreword by)

Overview

If you and your partner have struggled with fertility issues, you’re well aware of the emotional roller coaster of confusion, frustration, and disappointment that infertility can set in motion. This book offers a comprehensive set of mind-body techniques you can use to help improve fertility from the comfort of your home and make the most of in vitro fertilization (IVF) or other fertility treatments.

The stress reduction exercises, coping strategies, and simple lifestyle changes in The Infertility Workbook have been shown in research studies to improve fertility and increase pregnancy rates for couples. As you work through the book, you’ll develop the skills you need to make peace with your body, let go of your fears, and help increase your chance of pregnancy.

The book includes exercises and worksheets for:

•Understanding how worry and stress affect fertility
•Finding and working with a fertility specialist
•Coping with envy, disappointment, and blame
•Making the lifestyle choices that can help you conceive

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608825684
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	10/01/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	720 KB

About the Author

Barbara Blitzer, LCSW-C, MEd, is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and expert on mind-body techniques for fertility. She is in private practice in Bethesda, MD, and the metropolitan Washington, DC, area. www.barbarablitzer.com

Foreword writer Rafat A. Abbasi, MD, FACOG, is a reproductive endocrinology physician at Columbia Fertility Associates and chair of the department of gynecology at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD.

Barbara Blitzer, LCSW-C, MEd, is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and expert on mind-body techniques and their application to fertility. Formerly a faculty member at The Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington, DC, she now works in private practice and with Maryland In Vitro Fertilization Fertility Health and Wellness Center. She is a professional member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Resolve, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Greater Washington Clinical Society. Her work has been cited in the Washington Post, Washington Woman, and on several websites.

Foreword writer Rafat Abbasi, MD, is a reproductive endocrinology physician at Columbia Fertility Associates and chair of the department of gynecology at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD.

Editorial Reviews

The Infertility Workbook addresses a major cause of infertility. It is comprehensive, yet fun and filled with exercises in mind-body medicine that will help you enjoy life even if you aren’t trying to get pregnant, and long after you’ve been pregnant. If you’re trying to become pregnant, these exercises will make success more likely. The book also provides useful information on all subjects of concern, including what to look for in Dr. Right.”
—Dr. Michael Roizen, coauthor, with Dr. Mehmet Oz, of You: The Owners Manual, You: Having a Baby, and You: Raising Your Child

“Infertility can take an emotional and physical toll on those couples and individuals who are confronted by a bewildering range of tests and procedures. This comprehensive workbook should be very helpful to anyone suffering from infertility, from the newly diagnosed patient to the IVF veteran. I plan on recommending it to all of my patients.”
—John David Gordon, MD, codirector of Dominion Fertility and author of 100 Questions and Answers about Infertility

“If you are struggling with the weight of the multi-faceted emotional consequences of dealing with infertility, allow Barbara Blitzer’s powerful tools to gently yet effectively guide you to heal. Not only will you feel more in control, but you will put the powerful mind-body connection to work to improve your fertility. I encourage you to dive in and get started feeling better now.”
—Jennifer Bloome, founder of Anji, Inc., and creator of the Journey of the Heart infertility guided-meditation series

“All healing begins within, and the first step toward reproductive health is awareness. The Infertility Workbook is an empowering tool that can help women move from a state of fear and deprivation toward one of hope.”
—Randine Lewis, PhD, LAc, founder of The Fertile Soul and author of The Infertility Cure and The Way of the Fertile Soul

“What a relief it would be to have this wise, compassionate, honest, practical guide to navigate the frightening, often disappointing challenges of fertility treatment. This is especially true because Barbara Blitzer writes in her own voice, which feels like having the assistance of a caring, understanding presence, not a distant authority on the subject of fertility. Blitzer’s attention to the whole person makes it more likely that couples will come out of this experience gaining personally, whatever the outcome of the fertility effort.”
—Ann Ladd, PhD, LCSW, director of The Connecting Place in Pueblo West, CO

“The Infertility Workbook offers a hands-on, down-to-earth practical approach that will inspire those struggling to build their family. Barbara’s explanation of the powerful mind-body connection plus the application of her real-world exercises will go a long way toward healing, stress relief, and emotional balance.”
—Nancy P. Hemenway, executive director of the InterNational Council on Infertility and creator of the From INCIID the Heart IVF Scholarship Program

“The Infertility Workbook is an excellent and essential companion for anyone trying to conceive or experiencing the stress of infertility treatments. It provides a practical, easy-to-use program that can be life-changing. The science behind this mind-body is real and The Infertility Workbook offers readers a way to participate in and benefit from sophisticated mind-body programs in the privacy and intimacy of their own homes.”
—Elizabeth Swire Falker, author of The Infertility Survival Handbook and The Ultimate Insider’s Guide to Adoption

“I have no hesitation in recommending this book to all who are grappling with the problem of infertility. The book walks the reader through simple emotional and physical exercises that will help establish a healthy mind-body interaction that will assist and empower infertility patients to take charge of their own predicament and render them more responsive to medical treatments. The exercises recommended are well laid-out and easy to implement. I strongly believe that The Infertility Workbook will provide a refreshing and much-needed practical contribution to the infertility therapeutic armamentarium.”
—Geoffrey Sher, MD, executive medical director of The Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine and clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine

From the Publisher