Hypnosis for infertility

Hypnosis for infertility

Hypnosis for infertility

Medical hypnosis is a natural state of deep relaxation. A deep rest in which our subconscious mind is open and receptive. We create a deep relaxation of the nervous system in which we can work in areas of the mind that are not accessible to the daytime consciousness. In this realm, we also have influence over processes in the body that we cannot otherwise consciously control. These include blood pressure, pulse rate and, among other things, fertility.

 

How does a gynecologist come to hypnosis for infertility?

Shortly after my specialist examination more than 20 years ago, I started to deal with the topic of infertility and fertility. A report from a London fertility clinic fascinated me. Through the use of hypnosis, the success of IVF treatment was almost doubled. Better egg maturation, higher fertilization rates and also more implantations. Wonderful! Where can I learn this? That’s what I asked myself at the time. Unfortunately not in Germany, it was completely unknown in 2001. It is only since 2006 that medical hypnosis for pain and for smoking cessation has been recognized in our country.

The topic did not let me go. Almost 20 years later, I learned by chance who the therapist was at that time in the very renowned clinic in London: Marisa Peer, the developer of “Rapid Transformational Therapy” (RTT®), who has also written a book on the subject. It got even better: Marisa has been training since 2016 and most of the training, all the theory, can be done online. I signed up, my final exam was to take place at the end of the practical week in June 2020 in England. But shortly before that, the Corona pandemic hit.

Hypnosis

Online or in practice, there is no difference in the effect.

So I started to get more and more involved with online hypnosis. Without further ado, the RTT® school also switched the training completely to online. Surprisingly, but true, as I discovered in individual sessions, hypnosis works just as well online as it does in practice with patients on site. Without further ado, I began conducting online hypnosis groups for childbearing in January 2021. However, no sooner had one group ended than the first emails started coming into the practice asking when the next group would take place. Besides the full practice, it is hardly possible to conduct groups continuously. So, in the summer of 2022, I developed a program with infertility hypnosis. This program can be started at any time regardless of the cycle. A combination of classical medical hypnosis and RTT®: The Precious Pregnancies Hypnosis Program.

I still give live group hypnosis for infertility two to three times a year, but my focus is on individual therapy. Both in the groups and in individual therapy, I combine different hypnosis techniques. The 3Keys® HypnoFertility System, developed by American hypnotherapist Lynsi Eastburn over more than 25 years, has proven especially effective for women who have had multiple unsuccessful IVF/ICSI treatments or repeated miscarriages.

ed I say:

“If you brood over your worries all the time, you’ll hatch them too”

Danish proverb

Hypnosis for infertility helps in several ways:

  • The pregnancy rate per cycle increases under hypnosis, pregnancies occur easier and faster, there are now some studies on this.
  • It is a fast and reliable way to deep relaxation. Because when the road with the unfulfilled desire to have children is long, there is often tension and stress.
  • The often battered self-esteem, when it seems to everyone else to work out easily, gets support. Fears that the longed-for child will never come can be reduced. New hope and inner peace return. The deep certainty that one’s child will come at the right time on the right path … that is what my patients describe as priceless.
  • In hypnosis, our subconscious is receptive to suggestions that can be used in a targeted way. For example, to reduce pain and stress during medical treatments (IVF/ICSI), to heal wounds, and to improve biochemical parameters and laboratory values. It can also improve the tolerability of medications used for stimulation as part of fertility treatment.
  • Fears about whether the pregnancy that has occurred will stay decrease. Confidence in one’s own body to be able to hold and carry the baby is strengthened.

Hypnosis changes negative beliefs and convictions.

When we succeed in replacing negative thought loops with positive images, words and feelings, our bodies will follow. Constant brooding and worrying often lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fears that things will not work out again in the next cycle, that the next IVF treatment will also be unsuccessful, build up stress and lead to tension. Patients who expect the drugs to harm them are much more likely to experience side effects than women who areconvinced: “This helps me now, I tolerate it well.” Trust in one’s own body, confidence, and the ability to relax not only help women get through the long, tough time of waiting for a baby better. It also significantly increases the likelihood of getting and staying pregnant, both with natural fertility and with assisted fertilization such as IVF. There is scientific evidence that hypnosis helps with childbearing.

Hypnosis for infertility can be used for:

  • unexplained/idiopathic infertility
  • accompaniment in IVF/ICSI/cryocycle or IUI with or without sperm donation
  • Cycle disorders & specific problems such as endometriosis – finding out if one’s subconscious mind associates a meaning or function with a symptom or disease
  • Pain due to endometriosis, adhesions after laparoscopy or other operations
  • Tension, low self-esteem, sleep disturbances, and other symptoms associated with a diagnosis of infertility or subfertility.
  • Sexual dysfunction caused by post-date intercourse, LH testing, and cycle apps in both men and women. The pressure to make it work soon, the stress for the man of not being able to give his wife what she wants so much and with all her heart, can lead to erection problems.
  • Limited sperm, I also like to treat the male part of a couple who wants a child. It takes two to tango, and it takes two to have children, at least the traditional way.
  • Fear, when the pregnancy test is finally positive, of not being able to “hold” the baby
Dr Dorothe Struck Gynaecologist and Hypnofertilitist

Written by Dr Dorothee Struck