Maternal hypnosis induced by husbands during childbirth

Self‐hypnosis for coping with labour pain: a randomised controlled trial

“…However, apart from one study that randomised 500 women in two groups, sample sizes were small (40–65 women) with limited statistical power to identify reliable associations . Also, many studies were published several years ago in birth settings that may differ from contemporary birth care . Hence, we see our methodologically sound study as an important contribution to this field.…”

“…However, four of the thirteen previous studies were observational, and of the nine experimental studies, only five used a randomised controlled design . The general tendency appears to be that studies using a nonrandomised design obtained more positive results, which could be explained by a higher risk of bias and confounding in these studies . If participants are self‐selected to use hypnosis, differences between women receiving hypnosis and controls could be the result of preintervention characteristics of the participants, rather than an effect of the intervention.…”

“…Hypnosis and self‐hypnosis has previously been used successfully as antenatal training in different study populations and cultures, including adolescents and vulnerable women . Over the years, several studies have also demonstrated beneficial effects of teaching pregnant women in the general population self‐hypnosis when preparing for childbirth . The results suggest that hypnosis may have a positive impact on labour pain, but in most available studies the intervention was not randomly assigned, the hypnotic method is not well described and the number of participants is relatively small.…”

Hypnosis for Childbirth: A Retrospective Comparative Analysis of Outcomes in One Obstetrician's Practice

“…Significantly more hypnosisprepared women avoided analgesia use during labor in a non-randomized comparison study (Jenkins & Pritchard, 1993). In another prospective non-randomized study (Guthrie, Taylor, & Defriend, 1984), hypnosis-prepared women reported significantly lower pain ratings (6.3 compared to 9.2) on a linear analogue scale. In the most recent RCT (Mehl-Madrona, 2004), the hypnosis prepared group had significantly lower use of any analgesia or epidural anesthesia.…”

“…In spite of these positive findings about the beneficial effects of hypnosis for childbirth, it remains a little used approach. In fact, during the past 4 decades the cumulative number of women who have used hypnosis in the prospective studies that were reviewed and considered of sufficient scientific quality for inclusion totaled less than 650 subjects (Rock, Shipley, & Campbell, 1969;Guthrie et al, 1984;Freeman, Macaulay, Eve, Chamberlain, & Bhat, 1986;Harmon et al, 1990;Jenkins & Pritchard, 1993;Martin et al, 2001;Mehl-Madrona, 2004;Cyna et al, 2004). Additionally, cost comparisons, as well as systematic studies by clinicians who have introduced applications of hypnosis into their own obstetric practices, have yet to be published.…”