ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Two Women, Different Worlds, One Conclusion
Why Make Your Fertility Journey Harder?
One of them has a PhD in health psychology from Harvard. She started her research in 1987. She has run federally-funded randomized controlled trials, published in leading journals, and presented at scientific meetings around the world. She has been dismissed, ostracized, and told her work does not matter. She kept going.
The other is a former criminal prosecutor with a JD. She built a coaching methodology from inside her own seven-year fertility journey, from the lived evidence of watching client after client succeed against odds that medicine had written off. She has been called woo-woo, accused of blaming victims, and told the science does not support her. She kept going.
Dr. Alice Domar and Rosanne Austin come from completely different worlds.
They arrived at exactly the same conclusion.
What happens in the mind matters on the fertility journey. Not as a side note. Not as an optional add-on. As a core, measurable, documented driver of pregnancy outcomes.
In 1986, Dr. Domar came across a study from Bogota, Colombia. Fourteen women with unexplained infertility. Half received cognitive behavioral therapy over six or seven weeks. Four out of the seven got pregnant. None of the women in the control group did.
It was a small study. But it pointed to something significant: perhaps stress was a factor in fertility outcomes.
Dr. Domar started her Mind Body Program for Infertility in 1987, at a time when nobody in the fertility field was asking these questions. She describes being a salmon swimming upstream. The first two publications on her results showed that a third of participants got pregnant, at a time when IVF success rates were running at 5%. In her words: “extraordinary.”
The response from the fertility world? Evisceration.
Dr. Domar kept going. She secured federal funding to run a randomized controlled trial. The results:
Women who went through the mind-body program had a 52 to 55% take-home baby rate.
Women in the control group had a 20% take-home baby rate.
This is not a rounding error. This is not a small pilot study. This is a peer-reviewed, federally-funded, randomized controlled trial, the gold standard in medical research, published in Fertility and Sterility.
She then received a grant from Johnson and Johnson to look specifically at IVF patients. Same pattern. Fifty-two percent of the mind-body group had a baby. Twenty-two percent in the control group.
Her graduate student ran her PhD thesis on the same question and found that women in mind-body programs had four times the pregnancy rate of controls.
The fertility world remained largely unmoved.
Dr. Domar describes sitting in front of a group of infertility physicians, presenting meta-analyses of 35, 45, 50 studies all showing that women who received psychological interventions had significantly higher pregnancy rates. One physician looked at her and said: “You can show me these studies for two days, and I am not going to believe that stress has any impact on reproductive function or IVF success rates.”
The resistance, she believes, comes largely from how physicians are trained. Pharmaceuticals and surgical procedures have been the beginning and end of the conversation. Younger physicians, particularly female REIs who now make up more than half of new fellows, are more open. Europe, she notes, has been more receptive than the United States.
She has been fighting this battle for four decades. She is still fighting it. She had a new 240-person study rejected by the leading infertility journal because, she was told, physicians are not interested or do not believe in the connection.
Dr. Domar points to something straightforward: across virtually every species on the planet, when animals get stressed, they stop reproducing or their reproductive rates plummet. Because it does not make biological sense to reproduce if there is not enough food, or if the environment is dangerous.
Why would humans be any different?
And when we know that stress contributes to heart disease, blood sugar dysregulation, inflammatory disorders, gastrointestinal problems, and a long list of other conditions, it requires a kind of willful blindness to insist that one of the most delicate, hormonally complex systems in the body, the reproductive system, would be somehow immune.
She also published a landmark study, still widely cited thirty years later, finding that women with infertility have the same levels of anxiety and depression as women with cancer, AIDS, or heart disease. This is not a mild inconvenience. This is a medical crisis. And it is not being treated like one.
Both Dr. Domar and Rosanne Austin have been accused of blaming women for their fertility struggles. It is a charge both of them reject.
Saying that mindset affects outcomes is not the same as saying that mindset caused the infertility, or that the woman failed somehow, or that she could have thought her way to a baby if she had tried harder. It is saying that of all the variables on this journey, what happens in the mind is one of the few things a woman can actually influence. And that influence matters.
“What about this is blame?” Rosanne asks. “You are simply saying: just like you have taken responsibility for your success in the workplace, this is about taking some responsibility for how you think, what you believe, how you take action. That doesn’t sound like blame. That sounds like empowerment.”
Dr. Domar has a different framing: she is not telling anyone to relax and they will get pregnant. She is saying that evidence-based psychological tools reduce anxiety, reduce depression, reduce isolation, and increase pregnancy rates. That is not blame. That is medicine.
The women who come to both Dr. Domar and Rosanne Austin are a recognizable type: physicians, attorneys, executives, engineers, founders, women who have built extraordinary careers and lives by working harder and smarter than everyone else.
The fertility journey breaks that logic. The harder you push, the worse it can get. The more you try to outwork it, the more your body is flooded with the very stress hormones that are working against you.
Dr. Domar’s prescription for these women is simple and not easy: shift the focus from achieving to self-care. Let go of the idea that harder work will produce a result. Give yourself the skills to bring anxiety down, not by pretending the journey is not hard, but by building the internal resources to meet it differently.
Rosanne conceived her son naturally at nearly 44 while eating cheese and drinking wine in the south of France. Not because she stopped caring. Because she stopped torturing herself. The skills were there. The peace was built. The body responded.
Dr. Domar wants one thing: that every fertility clinic in the world provide as much emotional support and stress-reduction education as they provide injection training. That the psychological component of this journey be treated as the medical necessity it is, not an optional wellness add-on.
Rosanne shares that vision. The Fearlessly Fertile Podcast, with hundreds of success story interviews documenting women who beat single-digit odds, and The Mind of Fertility documentary are her contribution to building the evidence in a form medicine sometimes moves slowly to accept: human story, documented outcome.
At the end of their conversation, Dr. Domar said to Rosanne: “Maybe it’s your turn.”
To make the noise. To build the case. To change the conversation.
Listen to the Full Episode With Dr. Alice Domar Here.
This post is a companion to the latest episode of the Fearlessly Fertile Podcast: Two Women, Different Worlds, One Conclusion. Ready to hear Harvard researcher Dr. Alice Domar share four decades of clinical proof, why mind-body interventions double IVF success rates, and why taking control of your mind is empowerment, not blame? Press play to get this high-vibe truth in your ears.
The Clinical Proof Is In. The Stories Are Real. And It’s Built For The Woman Who Needs More Than A Motivational Quote.
The Mind of Fertility global docuseries is officially streaming! If you are ready to see real women—and the clinical data proving that mind-body programs can more than double take-home baby rates—click below to watch the documentary now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, according to peer-reviewed research. Dr. Alice Domar’s federally-funded randomized controlled trial, published in Fertility and Sterility, found that women who participated in a mind-body program had a 52 to 55% take-home baby rate compared to 20% in the control group. A separate Johnson and Johnson-funded study looking specifically at IVF patients found 52% in the mind-body group vs. 22% in the control group. Multiple meta-analyses of 35 to 50 studies consistently show that women who receive psychological interventions have significantly higher pregnancy rates than those who do not.
The evidence strongly suggests it can. Dr. Alice Domar’s research, along with multiple independent studies, consistently shows that women who engage in evidence-based psychological interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy, stress reduction techniques, and mind-body programs, have materially higher pregnancy rates than those who do not. This does not mean mindset alone determines outcomes, or that a woman is responsible for her diagnosis. It means that among the variables a woman can influence on her fertility journey, her psychological state is one of the most impactful and one of the most consistently underutilized.
Dr. Alice Domar has been investigating this question for forty years. She points to medical training that centers pharmaceuticals and surgical interventions, a bias toward measurable biological variables over psychological ones, and institutional resistance to research that challenges established practice. She notes that younger physicians, particularly female REIs, are more open to the mind-body connection. She also observes that Europe has been more receptive than the United States. At Inception Fertility, where she serves as Chief Compassion Officer, she is working to integrate emotional support as a standard component of fertility care.
No. Both Dr. Alice Domar and Rosanne Austin address this directly. Telling a woman that her psychological state can influence her fertility outcomes is not saying she caused her infertility or failed in some way. It is saying that among the things she can actively influence, her mindset is one of the most powerful. This is empowerment, not blame. Dr. Domar has published extensively on the fact that women with infertility experience the same levels of anxiety and depression as women with cancer, AIDS, or heart disease. She is not minimizing the difficulty of the journey. She is saying there are evidence-based tools to meet it more effectively.
Dr. Alice Domar is a Harvard-trained health psychologist with a PhD and four decades of research on the stress-fertility connection. She has run multiple federally and privately funded randomized controlled trials demonstrating that mind-body interventions significantly improve pregnancy rates. She spent twenty years at Boston IVF and is now the Chief Compassion Officer at Inception Fertility. Her landmark study showing that women with infertility have the same anxiety and depression levels as women with cancer, AIDS, or heart disease continues to be widely cited more than thirty years after publication.
Rosanne Austin is the premier fertility mindset authority for high-achieving women. A former criminal prosecutor and JD, she has spent over twelve years helping women around the world, ages 28 to 54, finally get and stay pregnant. The founder of the Fearlessly Fertile Method and author of five books, she has helped women beat odds their doctors described as less than 1%. Apply to be considered for her programs at: https://frommaybetobaby.com/pc-strategy
Yes, according to peer-reviewed research. Dr. Alice Domar’s federally-funded randomized controlled trial, published in Fertility and Sterility, found that women who participated in a mind-body program had a 52 to 55% take-home baby rate compared to 20% in the control group. A separate Johnson and Johnson-funded study looking specifically at IVF patients found 52% in the mind-body group vs. 22% in the control group. Multiple meta-analyses of 35 to 50 studies consistently show that women who receive psychological interventions have significantly higher pregnancy rates than those who do not."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Can mindset work really improve my chances of getting pregnant?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
The evidence strongly suggests it can. Dr. Alice Domar’s research, along with multiple independent studies, consistently shows that women who engage in evidence-based psychological interventions, including cognitive behavioral therapy, stress reduction techniques, and mind-body programs, have materially higher pregnancy rates than those who do not. This does not mean mindset alone determines outcomes, or that a woman is responsible for her diagnosis. It means that among the variables a woman can influence on her fertility journey, her psychological state is one of the most impactful and one of the most consistently underutilized."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why don't fertility doctors recommend mindset work or mind-body programs?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
Dr. Alice Domar has been investigating this question for forty years. She points to medical training that centers pharmaceuticals and surgical interventions, a bias toward measurable biological variables over psychological ones, and institutional resistance to research that challenges established practice. She notes that younger physicians, particularly female REIs, are more open to the mind-body connection. She also observes that Europe has been more receptive than the United States. At Inception Fertility, where she serves as Chief Compassion Officer, she is working to integrate emotional support as a standard component of fertility care."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is mindset work on the fertility journey blaming women for their struggles?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
No. Both Dr. Alice Domar and Rosanne Austin address this directly. Telling a woman that her psychological state can influence her fertility outcomes is not saying she caused her infertility or failed in some way. It is saying that among the things she can actively influence, her mindset is one of the most powerful. This is empowerment, not blame. Dr. Domar has published extensively on the fact that women with infertility experience the same levels of anxiety and depression as women with cancer, AIDS, or heart disease. She is not minimizing the difficulty of the journey. She is saying there are evidence-based tools to meet it more effectively."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is Dr. Alice Domar?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
Dr. Alice Domar is a Harvard-trained health psychologist with a PhD and four decades of research on the stress-fertility connection. She has run multiple federally and privately funded randomized controlled trials demonstrating that mind-body interventions significantly improve pregnancy rates. She spent twenty years at Boston IVF and is now the Chief Compassion Officer at Inception Fertility. Her landmark study showing that women with infertility have the same anxiety and depression levels as women with cancer, AIDS, or heart disease continues to be widely cited more than thirty years after publication."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is Rosanne Austin?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"
Rosanne Austin is the premier fertility mindset authority for high-achieving women. A former criminal prosecutor and JD, she has spent over twelve years helping women around the world, ages 28 to 54, finally get and stay pregnant. The founder of the Fearlessly Fertile Method and author of five books, she has helped women beat odds their doctors described as less than 1%. Apply to be considered for her programs at: https:\/\/frommaybetobaby.com\/pc-strategy"}}]}
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About the Author
Rosanne Austin is the premier fertility mindset authority for high-achieving women, and the only expert in her field who brings together a JD, over twelve years of documented client results, and the lived experience of conceiving naturally at nearly 44 after years of treatment failure. A former criminal prosecutor, Rosanne spent years inside courtrooms reading what people don’t say, and she brings that same ability to cut through the noise to the women she works with: physicians, attorneys, executives, engineers, and founders who are used to winning and need someone who can match their level. The founder of the Fearlessly Fertile Method and author of five books, she has helped women around the world from ages 28 to 54 finally get and stay pregnant, many against odds their doctors called less than 1%. Her Fearlessly Fertile Podcast, with hundreds of success story interviews, and her documentary The Mind of Fertility are the definitive media resources on the mindset piece of the fertility puzzle that medicine alone cannot provide.
Real women. Real success.
Proof that mindset changes the journey.
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