The Use of Hypnosis in Labor and Delivery: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Self-hypnosis was taught to 87 obstetric patients (HYP) and was not taught to 56 other patients (CNTRL), all delivered by the same family physician, in order to determine whether the use of self-hypnosis by low-risk obstetric patients leads to fewer technologic interventions during their deliveries or greater satisfaction of parturients with their delivery experience or both. The outcomes of the deliveries of these two groups were compared, and the HYP group was compared to 352 low-risk patients delivered by other family physicians at the same hospital (WCH). Questionnaires were mailed postpartum to 156 patients, all delivered by the same family physician, to determine satisfaction with delivery using the Labor and Delivery Satisfaction Index (LADSI). The hypnosis group showed a significant reduction in the number of epidurals (11.4% less than CNTRL and 17.9% less than WCH, p < 0.05) and the use of intravenous lines (18.5% less for both, p < 0.05). The number of episiotomies was significantly less in the HYP group compared to WCH (15.9%, p < 0.05) and 11.5% less when compared to CNTRL. The tear rate was not statistically different. Combined use of the intervention triad (epidural\p=n-\forceps\p=n-\episiotomy) was less for HYP than for CNTRL (15.8% less) and WCH (10.2% less, p < 0.05). More deliveries were done in the labor room with HYP than CNTRL (21%, p < 0.05). The second stage was shortened by 10 min (HYP vs CNTRL). Overall satisfaction of HYP and CNTRL patients was similar and generally favorable.

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

“…Our results are in disagreement with the results of the majority of previous studies, which have reported hypnosis to be more effective in relieving pain during childbirth than both standard medical care, traditional antenatal training and supportive counselling . Three studies did not report an effect on hypnosis when compared with traditional antenatal training, Lamaze and supportive counselling, respectively.…”

“…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.…”

“…22,23 Over the years, several studies have also demonstrated beneficial effects of teaching pregnant women in the general population self-hypnosis when preparing for childbirth. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] The results suggest that hypnosis may have a positive impact on labour pain, 22,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]34 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. We therefore conducted a randomised controlled trial to examine the effect of training in self-hypnosis on the use of epidural analgesia during birth and self-reported labour pain.…”

Measuring women’s childbirth experiences: a systematic review for identification and analysis of validated instruments

“…The Early Labour Experience Questionnaire/ELEQ [47]Janssen & Desmarais (2013)USATo measure women’s experiences with their early labour care.Developed to measure women’s experience and evaluate care given in the latent and early phase of labour [47, 101]. Additional testing of psychometric properties would strengthen the questionnaire further.The Labor and Delivery Satisfaction Index/LADSI [31]Lomas et al (1987)CanadaTo assess the caring aspects of childbirth care.Developed for use in clinical trials [31] and has been used in several studies evaluating care given [102–104]. It was developed and evaluated in 1987.…”