Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system that impairs one of the body’s most basic functions: the conception of children. Conception is a complicated process that depends upon many factors.  Having too much stress can change your hormone levels and therefore cause the time when you release an egg to become delayed or not take place at all.  The adrenal glands are located above each kidney that secrete a large variety of hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, and others) that help the body withstand stress and regulate metabolism. Altered function of these glands can disrupt menstruation.

Women can face many underlying psychological and emotional stressful situations, such as the difficulties of going to work while undergoing infertility testing and treatments and the fear caused by media and statistical reports about declining fertility as one ages. There may be unacknowledged fears around pregnancy, labor, childbirth, hospitals, medical treatments, motherhood, loss of independence or individuality. Questions about a husband’s ability to be a good father, unresolved dysfunctional patterns from a woman’s own childhood, or even the fear that a new baby might be a threat to the relationship with her spouse can all cause inner conflict and stress.

Hypnosis can help women identify and process subconscious stresses. fears, or resistance that might be interfering with conception. Hypnosis can also be used as an adjunct to fertility treatments to enhance and support any protocol suggested by your doctor.  If you had never thought about making hypnosis a part of your plan for healthy fertility, prenatal, and birthing care, consider the following – hypnotherapy is a safe and effective way to help you:

Hypnosis Can Transform Stress

• Develop the ability to relax easily and deeply.
• Release fears that may be triggering fight or flight symptoms counterproductive to fertility and pregnancy.
• Take charge of worrisome thoughts and learn to  focus your mind on positive and desired outcomes instead.
• Learn to become less reactive to people and situations around you.
• Learn techniques for reducing stress and tension
• Identify sources of mental, emotional, and physical tension and clear them.

Hypnosis Can Enhance IVF & IUI Treatments

• Lower levels of stress are correlated with more eggs retrieved and fertilized.
• Help break the cycle of grief, fear and anger associated with infertility.
• Reduce the procedural stresses of medical infertility treatments.
• Promote successful implantation of fertilized eggs.
• Induce feelings of optimism concluded to be associated with an increased number of eggs fertilized and embryos transferred.

Hypnosis to Empower You to:

• Listen to your intuition
• Increase confidence in your body’s innate ability to become pregnant.
• Regain trust in your body.
• Let go of fears and limiting thoughts.
• Reframe negative beliefs.
• Release disappointment or anger that may exist from previous birth experiencesand/or attempts at conception.
• Create an image of wellness and natural fertility.

Scientific Evidence

• A team of researchers at the University of California- San Diego investigated the effect of stress on the success rates of IVF and GIFT\ (Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer). 151 patients at seven southern California fertility centers were evaluated over five years. The researchers found that women’s initial optimism about becoming pregnant was correlated with an increased number of eggs fertilized and an increase in the number of embryos transferred. (American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2001)
• Alice Domar, PhD, Director of a fertility center in Boston who also works at the Harvard Medical School, found that women who participated in a stress management program prior to or during their second in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle had a 160% greater pregnancy rate than those who did not take part in a program. In 1999, she also conducted a study to show how effective mind/body techniques were in removing unresolved issues surrounding pregnancy. 42% of 132 infertile women participating in the mind/body program conceived within 6 months of completing it.
• Dr. Elizabeth Muir, a clinical psychologist specializing in treating infertility, has researched how Hypnotherapy affects the hypothalamus gland (a tiny region of the brain that controls the flow of hormones in the body). Dr. Muir found this gland was sensitive to stress, thus creating a bridge between the emotions and the body. She proved that Hypnotherapy can help reduce stress, which in turn allows the hypothalamus gland to trigger the hormone production that is conducive to successful reproduction. The results of Muir’s study showed that 45% of the women with unexplained infertility were able to conceive when Hypnotherapy is added to their fertility program.
• The Soroka University Medical Center in Israel found that nearly 60% of a group of women using hypnosis during IVF became pregnant, compared to about 30% who didn’t. Professor Eliahu Levitas, who led this study presented his findings to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology Conference in 2004.
• The Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association and Fertility and Sterility studies have indicated that “infertile” women participating in mind/body therapy experienced a 55% conception rate as compared to a 20% rate in the control group who used no mind/body techniques.
• Self-hypnosis can strengthen the immune system by 48% in six weeks, according to a study by John Gruzelier, Professor of Psychology at Imperial College School of Medicine.
• Women with a history of depressive symptoms were twice as likely to suffer subsequent infertility (Psychosomatic Medicine, 1995 vol. 57). Within 6 months of receiving hypnotherapy treatment, women with depression showed a 60% viable pregnancy rate as compared to just 24% in women who underwent no mind/body treatment. (Journal of American Medical Women’s Association, 199 vol. 54)
• In his book, ‘The Psychobiology of Gene Expressions’, Dr. Ernest L. Rossi suggests that hypnotic-type suggestions can activate specific genes involved with fertility and conception, including the IL-1, c-fos, and the CYP17 in a specific order.