The effect of pregnancy on hypnotizability.

Full Abstract

Hypnosis during pregnancy and childbirth has been shown to reduce labor analgesia use and other medical interventions. We aimed to investigate whether there was a difference in hypnotizability in pregnant and nonpregnant women. Study participants had hypnotizability measured by the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) in the third trimester of pregnancy and subsequently between 14 and 28 months postpartum and when not pregnant. The 37 participants who completed the study gave birth in the largest maternity unit in South Australia between January 2006 and March 2007. CIS scores were increased in women when pregnant (Mean 23.5, SD 6.9) compared to when they were not pregnant (Mean 18.7, SD 6.6), p < 0.001. The mean effect size was 0.84 suggesting that the hypnotizability change was both statistically significant and clinically meaningful. Our study findings support previous evidence showing that women are more hypnotizable when pregnant than when not pregnant.

Author information

Author/s: Alexander, Beth (B); Turnbull, Deborah (D); Cyna, Allan (A);

Affiliation: Department of Women's Anaesthesia Women's & Children's Hospital, 72 King William Road Adelaide, S.A. 5006, Australia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The American journal of clinical hypnosis (Am J Clin Hypn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 52 (issue 1) : pp 13-22

Dates: Created 2009/08/14; Completed 2009/09/28;

PMID: 19678556, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/28/2009, IMS Date: )

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