Hypnotism 'doubles chance of IVF baby'
by David Derbyshire, 30 June 2004, The Telegraph

Hypnotising women during IVF treatment doubles their chances of becoming pregnant, a fertility doctor said yesterday. A study has found that the relaxation technique increased the success rate of each cycle of treatment from 14 per cent to 28 per cent.

However, other scientists said the study was flawed and that more work was needed to prove the benefits of hypnotherapy. Dr Eliahu Levitas, a fertility doctor at Soroka University, Israel, studied nearly 200 women undergoing IVF treatment. Half the women were hypnotised by a trained expert during the transfer of their embryos, while the other half had normal treatment.

"IVF is a stressful event for the patient and the procedure of embryo transfer is the peak of that stress," Dr Levitas told the fertility conference. "The favourable outcome may be explained by the tranquillising effect, which reduces stress."

Although the researchers tried to ensure that both groups of women in the study were comparable, those having hypnotherapy had been infertile for a far shorter time - 4.7 years rather than 7.4 years.
Dr Francoise Shenfield, a fertility and ethics expert at University College Hospital, London, said the study raised intriguing questions.

"But it is flawed because the length of time a woman has been infertile affects her chances of success," she said.