Hypnosis and Pregnant Women : A Study

Researchers from Women's & Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia investigated whether there was a difference in hypnotizability between pregnant and nonpregnant women. (Hypnosis during pregnancy and childbirth has been shown to reduce the use of pain medication during labor and other medical interventions.)

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 again, further beyond that.


The 37 participants who completed the study gave birth between January 2006 and March 2007. CIS scores were significantly increased in women when pregnant (Mean 23.5, SD 6.9) as 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.

The study findings support previous evidence showing that women are more hypnotizable when pregnant than when not pregnant.

Citation: Alexander B, Turnbull D, Cyna A. The effect of pregnancy on hypnotizability. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. 2009 Jul; 52 (1): pages 13-22.