Woman Says She Changed Negative Thoughts About Conceiving
There are many couples who have a hard time getting pregnant. Some therapies, like in vitro fertilization, are complicated and expensive. But there are alternatives, such as hypnosis.
While it may sound far-fetched one local hypnotherapist says she is helping more and more couples get pregnant in a matter of months.
Tara Brockman, 31, really wants to be a mom. She and her husband tried to conceive for six months with no luck. After undergoing hypnosis Brockman is now pregnant with her first child.
“It was kind of a surprise, exciting,” she said.
For most of her life Brockman thought she’d have a hard time getting pregnant. When she was 14 she was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome. Even doctors said a baby might be impossible. But after one month and a couple of hypno-therapy sessions, it worked.
“I really felt like that was the missing link,” she said. “I really think that it helped to transform my negative thought patterns and the belief I held that I couldn’t get pregnant.”
Hypnotherapist Lynsi Eastburn said changing negative thoughts is key.
“There’s an obsession with, ‘Am I pregnant? Am I going to get pregnant? What cycle day am I on? What’s my basal body temp?’ It’s all they think about,” Eastburn said.
All that thinking can stress out a woman, and if she doesn’t get pregnant right away she might convince herself she can’t get pregnant.
“There’s a 25 percent diagnosis of unexplained infertility, which means there’s no physical cause for it,” Eastburn said.
Eastburn works at reprogramming a woman’s mind. She is specially certified to do this.
She uses a soothing voice and encouraging words to take clients to a more peaceful place.
“You still feel like you’re in control, but you’re in a very relaxed and receptive state,” Brockman said.
These days more medical doctors believe in and sometimes encourage alternative therapies like hypnosis or acupuncture because they seem to take a lot of the stress out of baby making.
“One key component is stress reduction. There is a definite link between hormones released in the brain and decreasing a woman’s ability to release an egg,” said Dr. Mark Bush with Conceptions Reproductive Associates.
Eastburn said hypnosis can also double the success rate of invitro fertilization, which on its own only results in a baby 30 percent of the time.
In some cases, a woman may get pregnant without having to undergo the expensive treatment. For Brockman it all happened naturally and while she can’t wait for her first to arrive she knows she’ll be back for hypno-therapy when its time for number two.