Can Hypnotherapy Make Giving Birth Easier?
Childbirth can be a scary prospect.
It's painful, difficult, and there are so many things that can go wrong.
Midwives and doctors are usually focused on the physical health and safety of the mother and baby - but we shouldn't forget that childbirth can be mentally and emotionally taxing as well.
Why wouldn't it be? The culmination of nine months of stress on the body and mind, hours of pain, concern for both the child and the mother's own health - it's no wonder most people breathe a heavy sigh of relief once a child has successfully been born.
For many women hypnotherapy before childbirth can shorten labour and reduce pain.
Because the mother is in a calmer state, the emotional stress of childbirth is less for her - meaning her childbirth can progress more smoothly.
Hypnotherapy can also be used to assuage the fears and phobias of specific women, such as a phobia of needles or hospitals - both of which are, for obvious reasons, common in childbirth.
Though of course a hypnotherapist cannot replace a midwife, they are not trying to: rather, the aim of pre-childbirth hypnotherapy is to give the mother the tools to successfully navigate her way through the mental and emotional difficulties and stresses of giving birth.
Many women, despite bearing no physical scars or injuries after childbirth, nevertheless feel distressed and concerned by the entire event.
Because childbirth is relatively common and we have the medical facilities to make it much safer than in past times, we forget that it is still an exhausting, nerve-wracking event and neglect to offer the mother the mental and emotional care she needs.
If the childbirth is traumatic enough post-partum depression may even be a risk for the mother.
So is there any proof for this view? Well, studies have been conducted into the use of hypnotherapy with childbirth.
One such study, carried out in 2004 by A.
M Cyna, G.
L McAuliffe and M.
I Andrew and published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2004, suggested that pre-labour hypnotherapy did reduce the need for pharmalogical analgesia.
A different study conducted in 1993 by M.
W Jenkins and M.
H Pritchard reported that hypnotherapy reduced the length of labour and reduced the need for pain medication use.
The evidence points in favour of hypnotherapy for childbirth.
Though of course it may not be to every woman's taste, any woman concerned about stress during childbirth should be considering hypnotherapy as one of the many options available to her.
It's painful, difficult, and there are so many things that can go wrong.
Midwives and doctors are usually focused on the physical health and safety of the mother and baby - but we shouldn't forget that childbirth can be mentally and emotionally taxing as well.
Why wouldn't it be? The culmination of nine months of stress on the body and mind, hours of pain, concern for both the child and the mother's own health - it's no wonder most people breathe a heavy sigh of relief once a child has successfully been born.
For many women hypnotherapy before childbirth can shorten labour and reduce pain.
Because the mother is in a calmer state, the emotional stress of childbirth is less for her - meaning her childbirth can progress more smoothly.
Hypnotherapy can also be used to assuage the fears and phobias of specific women, such as a phobia of needles or hospitals - both of which are, for obvious reasons, common in childbirth.
Though of course a hypnotherapist cannot replace a midwife, they are not trying to: rather, the aim of pre-childbirth hypnotherapy is to give the mother the tools to successfully navigate her way through the mental and emotional difficulties and stresses of giving birth.
Many women, despite bearing no physical scars or injuries after childbirth, nevertheless feel distressed and concerned by the entire event.
Because childbirth is relatively common and we have the medical facilities to make it much safer than in past times, we forget that it is still an exhausting, nerve-wracking event and neglect to offer the mother the mental and emotional care she needs.
If the childbirth is traumatic enough post-partum depression may even be a risk for the mother.
So is there any proof for this view? Well, studies have been conducted into the use of hypnotherapy with childbirth.
One such study, carried out in 2004 by A.
M Cyna, G.
L McAuliffe and M.
I Andrew and published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2004, suggested that pre-labour hypnotherapy did reduce the need for pharmalogical analgesia.
A different study conducted in 1993 by M.
W Jenkins and M.
H Pritchard reported that hypnotherapy reduced the length of labour and reduced the need for pain medication use.
The evidence points in favour of hypnotherapy for childbirth.
Though of course it may not be to every woman's taste, any woman concerned about stress during childbirth should be considering hypnotherapy as one of the many options available to her.
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