Often couples decide they’re going to start a family and a baby is on the way very quickly. Unfortunately, you may have discovered it to be less straightforward and feel you need a little more help to get pregnant. Whether you’ve had all the tests or are choosing to exhaust all your natural options first, hypnotherapy may be able to help. Women undergoing IVF treatment who participate in a mind/body programme, such as hypnosis for stress reduction, have been shown to have a significantly higher pregnancy rate than those who do not (52% versus 20%).
When you’re focused on getting pregnant, the appearance of your monthly cycle can become extremely stressful. This stress can become even worse if you’re going through IVF treatment, particularly if no one knows what’s wrong. This stress and anxiety can build up and get in the way of creating a family.
When our mind is under stress it believes we are in danger and the fight/flight/freeze response can be stimulated. During these periods of stress, our body also shuts down what it considers to be non-essential functions, so that it can focus on the danger. One of these so-called, ‘non-essential functions’ is your fertility. The mind does this as its priority is to protect you, so learning to relax can be key to becoming pregnant.
Most hypnotherapy sessions are split into two distinct parts: ‘the talky bit’ and hypnosis. The talking bit, which could be either counselling or psychotherapy, will help you to understand why you feel as you do and to understand what can be done about it. The length of your hypnotherapy session could vary from 30 – 90 minutes. An initial consultation will generally be held prior to your hypnotherapy sessions starting. This is to agree the aims and goals of your treatment, to discuss your symptoms and to give you a guide of the number of sessions required. This will vary depending on the client but is likely to be between 8-10 sessions.
Infertility is when a couple have regular unprotected sex for 12 months or more and do not conceive. There can be many reasons why pregnancy does not happen naturally. The most common are issues with the release of the egg or blocked fallopian tubes in women, and issues with sperm production in men. Lifestyle factors can also impact fertility, such as being overweight, smoking, drinking alcohol, and some drugs. High levels of stress and anxiety can also interfere with a woman’s ability to get pregnant.
The average age of women having their first baby is 29.1 years old in England and Wales, the highest since records began in 1938. In fact, like many other people, you might have spent the majority of your twenties avoiding pregnancy. You probably assumed that when the time came you’d find it relatively straightforward to get pregnant. However, the World Health Organisation suggests that as many as 1 in 6 people will have some issues with infertility. A woman’s fertility starts to decline around the age of 35 years and this can make it harder to conceive.
NHS guidance is available for people looking for support with getting pregnant, and Healthline have created a more comprehensive guide which offers suggestions with supported data too. Here’s a few common steps:
If you’re struggling to conceive, then it’s likely that you’re feeling stressed and anxious about the whole situation. Unfortunately, this in turn, is likely to have a negative impact on your ability to conceive. Hypnotherapy can improve ovulation, increase sperm quality and enhance embryo implantation. It does this by reducing stress and anxiety.
Hypnotherapy is a very relaxing therapy and, once you relax, your body no longer feels in danger. Your levels of cortisol drop and the body is able to focus on creating a nice safe place for the egg to implant. Women undergoing hypnotherapy for stress reduction have been shown to have a significantly higher pregnancy rate. A study found that double the number of women got pregnant when hypnotherapy was used alongside IVF.
When you are in a trance state, you will be in a state of focused attention. Different brain waves become more prevalent and you will likely be able to see things from a different perspective, altering your stress levels. The change in brain waves will also make it easier for you to take on new ideas and new ways of thinking. Most hypnotherapists use an element of talking therapy these days and this supports the trance session by helping you to evaluate your current behaviour and the way you think.
It is always important to contact your GP about fertility issues before seeing a hypnotherapist. This is because sometimes there are physical issues that need resolving before pregnancy can occur.
Hypnotherapy works in two ways. Most hypnotherapy approaches use a blend of talking therapy plus trance. The talking element of the session will help you to look at your inability to get pregnant, from a different perspective. You might explore your current behaviours or thought patterns that are getting in the way. The talking element might be some form of Counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or a Solution Focused (SF) approach. The aim is to help give you a better understanding of how to get better. This will then be followed by a trance session where the therapist will use hypnosis to relax you into a trance state. While in the trance state, which is a natural state of focused attention, you will be able to let go of any tension and relax fully. This allows your brain to move from flight and flight mode into a state of deep relaxation where your body can get pregnant more easily. When you are in a trance state the predominant brain waves change from Beta to Alpha and Theta, these allow you to change the way you think and to problem solve more effectively.
On its own hypnotherapy cannot cure unexplained infertility, but it can help you to relax sufficiently to allow pregnancy to occur. Hypnotherapy can also increase your chance of pregnancy if you are undergoing IUI or IVF treatment. Hypnotherapy has been shown to be a very effective treatment for stress and anxiety that is often present in case of infertility. It was also found that hypnosis was more effective when combined with a psychological element than just hypnosis alone. However, it is not possible to guarantee a cure with any condition.
Even before lockdown many hypnotherapists were running online hypnotherapy sessions for Infertility. The good news is that there is now evidence to support the effectiveness of online hypnotherapy sessions for a range of conditions. All you would need to take part in an online hypnotherapy session would be a laptop, tablet or smartphone, access to the internet and somewhere quiet where you can relax.
As hypnotherapy is considered to be a complementary therapy in the UK, we are not allowed to publish success rates for Infertility. Your commitment to the hypnotherapy process is also very important. If you engage with your hypnotherapist and follow their advice, such as listening to an MP3 download every night, then your treatment will be more effective than if you don’t. However, all that said, research shows Hypnotherapy is effective for significantly improving IVF cycle outcomes.
The cost of hypnotherapy for unexplained infertility can vary from one therapist to another. This will depend on your location and the qualifications and experience your hypnotherapist has. To give you a rough guide prices can vary from £40- £150 per hour.
Unfortunately, you will probably be unable to access hypnotherapy for unexplained infertility through the NHS. This is despite the British Medical Association’s assertion, in their submission of evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on science and technology in the year 2000, that ‘Hypnotherapy and Counselling may be considered as orthodox treatments’. However, your GP might suggest hypnotherapy as an option for unexplained infertility, but it will be up to you to source and fund your treatment.
Self-hypnosis can help with Infertility as all hypnosis is technically self-hypnosis. This is because it is your brain doing the work, with the hypnotherapist as the facilitator. However, it can be difficult to achieve on your own and therefore finding a qualified hypnotherapist to help you initially can be the best solution. Once you have experienced going into a trance state a few times with their help, you will find it much easier to go into that same state on your own. It is worth pointing out that the counselling or psychotherapy element of the hypnotherapy session would be missing from any self-help approach and research has suggested that hypnosis is more effective alongside it.
The side effects from hypnotherapy are generally positive. This is because the trance state is a natural state that we all go into everyday; whenever we are focusing on something and lose awareness of the outside world, we are in a trance state. You might feel very dozy when coming out of a trance state, but a walk in the fresh air will soon bring you back to normal.
Start out with the basics, Search for “hypnotherapy for fertility” in Google or Bing. The results will contain a map with local hypnotherapy businesses. Start looking through their reviews either in the search engine or on their social (Facebook) pages.
The best hypnotherapists will be registered with a professional association and with organisations that are accredited by the professional standards authority. There are only two in the UK and they are the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and the National Hypnotherapy Society.
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