Published in Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology by the American Psychological
Association, Inc., 1990, Vol 58, #5
The benefits of hypnotic
analgesia as an adjunct to childbirth education were studied in 60
nulliparous (first baby) 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 1 labors, 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.
