Clinical studies Supporting Hypnosis in Birth

Improved obstetric outcomes using hypnotic analgesia and skill mastery combined with childbirth education.

Harmon TM, Hynan MT, Tyre TE, The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee J Consult Clin Psychol 1990 Oct; 58(5):525-30

The benefits of hypnotic anlagesia as an adjunct to childbirth education were studied in 60 nulliparous women. Subjects were divided into high and low hypnotic susceptibility groups before receiving 6 sessions of childbirth education and skill mastery using an ischemic pain task. Half of the subjects in each group received a hypnotic induction at the beginning of each session; the remaining control subjects received relaxation and breathing exercises typically used in childbirth education.

Both hypnotic subjects and highly susceptible subjects reported reduced pain. Hypnotically prepared births had shorter Stage one labours, less medication, higher Apgar scores and more frequent spontaneous deliveries than control subjects’ births. Highly susceptible, hypnotically treated women had lower depression scores after birth than women in the other three groups.

We propose that repeated skill mastery facilitated the effectiveness of hypnosis in our study.

The above is classified as both a Clinical trial and Randomized controlled trial.