[Threat of premature labor, stress, psychosocial support and psychotherapy: a review of the literature].

From the hypothesis that preterm labour is a physical expression of a difficulty to have a cheerful pregnancy, we wanted to assess from a literature review:--the link between stress, anxiety, and preterm birth for one part--and the medical advantage of psychosocial or psychological support among women having a high risk of preterm birth for another. According to the available publications, stress, psychological disturbances, and anxiety can increase the risk of preterm birth. However, psychosocial support is not associated with an improvement of the perinatal outcome. On the other hand, psychological support for women having a preterm labour, with or without hospitalisation, seems an interesting medical approach to reduce the preterm birth rate.