Increasingly practiced for therapeutic purposes and in particular analgesics, hypnosis also has a wide field of application in perinatal care. It helps to overcome certain fertility disorders, to better live a course of ART, to calmly apprehend pregnancy and childbirth.

As a reminder, Ericksonian hypnosis (named after its creator Milton Erickson) consists of reaching a modified state of consciousness, halfway between waking and sleeping. We can speak of a state of “paradoxical wakefulness”: the person is conscious, psychically active, although paradoxically physically completely at rest (1). It is a natural state that everyone experiences in everyday life: when one is absorbed by the landscape at the train window, by the flames of a chimney fire, when driving automatically, etc.

Hypnosis consists, with the help of different techniques of suggestion, to voluntarily reach this state which can be used positively. In this specific state of consciousness, it is indeed possible to access the unconscious and thus “unlock” certain blockages, work on certain addictions, etc. In this state of consciousness are also hidden resources, often unsuspected, that the person can use to go through unpleasant sensations, better experience certain events, manage their emotions.

Thanks to these different properties, hypnosis can be an interesting tool in the event of fertility disorders of psychological origin or so-called “unexplained” fertility, that is to say once all organic causes have been eliminated. following an infertility assessment. It is a resource of choice for limiting stress which can have an impact on hormonal secretions and alter the ovarian cycle.

In addition, we now know that the psyche plays an important role in fertility. Certain events of the past, even of previous generations, certain beliefs (on sexuality, on the vision of the female body, on what a child represents, etc.) deeply rooted in the unconscious can constitute an obstacle to becoming a mother in ” locking ”fertility (2). By accessing the unconscious, hypnosis constitutes, alongside psychotherapy, an additional tool to try to “unlock” what is blocking access to motherhood.

The individual session begins with speaking time between the patient and the practitioner. This dialogue is important for the practitioner to identify the patient’s problem but also to define the best approach to make him enter hypnosis.

Then, the person lets himself be guided by the soft voice of the practitioner to reach a deep relaxation, a state of relaxing reverie in which the person gives up his conscious will. This is the induction phase.

With positive suggestions and visualizations, the hypnotherapist gently brings the person into an altered state of consciousness. This is the trance phase. Depending on the reason for the consultation, the hypnotherapist will then adapt his speech to focus on treating the patient’s problem. For fertility problems, it can, for example, lead the mother-to-be to visualize her uterus, like a nest ready to welcome the embryo.

Infertility and the course of ART (medically assisted procreation) are a real physical and psychological test for the couple, and even more so for the woman. Sadness at not being able to be pregnant naturally but also a feeling of guilt and great anger, a feeling of violated intimacy in the face of the intrusive nature of the various treatments, anxiety awaiting results, disappointment during failures, etc. Hypnosis can help them take a step back from their different emotions, to better manage waiting and disappointment. In short, live the difficult course of the AMP with more serenity.

An Israeli study (3) carried out in 2006 also showed the physiological benefits of hypnosis only in the context of IVF (in vitro fertilization). The group of patients who benefited from hypnosis during the embryo transfer had a better implantation rate (28%) than the other patients (14,4%), with a final pregnancy rate of 53,1%. for the hypnosis group against 30,2% for the other group. By promoting relaxation, hypnosis could limit the risk of the embryo moving in the uterine cavity, suggest the authors.

More and more medical hypnosis is used in hospitals, especially in analgesia. This is called hypno-analgesia. Hypnosis will reduce or stop the activity of certain areas of the brain normally activated during a painful sensation, and thus modify the perception of the intensity of the pain. Thanks to different techniques – displacement, forgetting, variation, occultation – the perception of pain will be moved to another level of consciousness (we speak of focusing-displacement) is put at a distance.

Pregnant women being particularly receptive to hypnosis techniques, this practice naturally found an application during childbirth. On D-Day, gentle hypnotic analgesia will bring comfort and serenity to the mother. In this modified state of consciousness, the mother-to-be will be able to draw on resources to manage the contractions, the various medical procedures but also to remain “connected” to her child throughout the labor.

Either the future mother has followed a specific preparation to learn the techniques to place herself in a state of self-hypnosis. Either she has not followed any preparation but the practitioner present at her delivery (the anesthetist or the midwife) is trained in hypnosis and offers the mother-to-be to use it during labor.

Note that there are different methods of preparation for childbirth based on hypnosis. HypnoNatal (4) is the most common method in France. It was created in 2003 by Lise Bartoli, clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist specializing in perinatal care. Other methods exist, such as the HypnoBirthing (Mongan Method) (5). Sessions usually start at the start of the 2nd trimester. Only sessions led by a midwife are covered by Social Security

Hypnosis can also be used in case of cesarean section in addition to anesthesia, to help the mother better accept the decision of the medical team to perform a cesarean section, to apprehend it positively, to overcome the feeling of guilt of not having been able to give birth naturally to her child.