More than 800 British women have volunteered to hypnotise themselves during childbirth to see if they can go without painkillers for a new medical trial.
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has launched an 18-month study into “hypnobirthing” to assess whether women can give birth without the use of epidurals and other drugs, the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.
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The trial will be run by the University of Central Lancashire and will involve more than 800 expectant mothers. The volunteers will attempt to use “self-hypnosis techniques” while in labour to achieve a “deep sense of relaxation”.
The women will attend a 90-minute training session in the weeks before they give birth, and will be given a calming CD to listen to in the delivery room. Painkillers will be available for the women if necessary, but they will be strongly encouraged to rely on their newly taught relaxation techniques.
Currently, one in three pregnant women in Australia rely on drugs to give birth. There has been a growing trend for natural births in the past year, and more expectant mothers are looking for drug-free methods of managing the pain of childbirth.
According to Melissa Spilsted, of HypnoBirthing Australia, more than 10,000 local women have used self-hypnosis to give birth without drugs.
She has used the technique during all three of her pregnancies, and insists pain during labour is a “myth”. She says women only feel pain because they are scared and anxious after hearing “horror stories” about childbirth from other women.
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“Childbirth is not something to be feared; it is a natural expression of life,” the HypnoBirthing Australia website states. “With hypnobirthing, your pregnancy and childbirth will become the gentle, life-affirming process it was meant to be. “Through private or small group classes, we will remove the myth of pain as a natural accompaniment to birth. It is not our bodies but our culture that has made childbirth a moment of anguish, and when we release the fear of birth, a fear that is keeping our bodies tense and closed, we will also release the pain.”
Despite this, a recent study conducted by Britain’s Newcastle University found that most women underestimate the pain of the childbirth, and ask for painkillers despite previously vowing they wouldn’t.
Your say: Do you think pain in childbirth is a myth? Would you be willing to try hypnobirthing? Did you have a natural birth or did you use painkillers?
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