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Show By RALPH V. AUGUST, M. D. as told to fames C. G. Conniff ( J A pioneering obstetrician tells why he aster 9 and his patients are CMldfoMlhi' SO I K r. y P 1 V 01 i fr i JEL.,d ' 1 ,V;iftff:. 71 Xv sW 4 - Dr. August HMTi ii oW wceWy i r yroup hypnotic sessions with Editors9 Note: This busy Muskegon Heights, Mich., obstetrician believes hypnosis is often the only painkiller a woman needs in childbirth. He has found that chemical agents for pain relief, whether inhaled as a gas or injected by needle, cannot compare although they continue to be useful under certain conditions. !n a monumental study, "Hypnosis in ObstetDr. August has reported rics" (McGraw-Hill- ), on 1,000 consecutive cases of ch&dbirth-by-hyp-noti- s from his own private practice. of To give FAMILY weekly readers a close-u- p to Dr. August this amazing procedure, we went for this firsthand report on the facte every woman facing motherhood might ask herself about this dramatic aid to safer, easier childbirth. Doctor, fast what is medical hypnosis? It is state of mind into which the patient permits her doctor to guide her. She is in control tt all times; she can enter and leave hypnosis at will. In that sense, I have never hypnotized anyone. What I have done has been to help the obstetric patient to hypnotize herself. It's like driving a car: I show her how. Why Im hypnosis a better wan to lieve pain In childbirth? For two reasons: (1) it protects the bsby 4 rmUy Wtkly, DtrwibT I, f MJ re- mothers-to-b- e. A patient as nothing else can, and (2) it makes things easier for the mother. Take the ordinary anesthesia of childbirth. Through the mother's blood stream, it imposes d on a baby the same dose of seven-poun- powerful chemicals needed to affect a woman weighing 120 pounds or more. No wonder so many babies are born groggy, and worse. No wonder that 22 percent of newborn infants who die (and 8.4 percent of new mothers who die) do so as a direct or indirect result of the chemical anesthesia that is normally used in childbirth. Many medical schools still do not teach hypnosis in their regular obstetrical programs. But more and more obstetricians are training themselves. Their desire to offer hypnosis to their patients underlines a growing awareness that it is an absolutely safe form of pain relief for both mother and baby not least when the mother is a cardiac ITotc does It snake tilings the mother? easier for Paradoxically, hypnosis sharpens her senses even while it is making her more suggestible. As a result, it helps a woman in labor to cooperate passively, as it were, with any reasonable recommendation the doctor may make for her benefit or the baby's. In this way, the hypnotic state greatly improves her . is put into trance in tier nospiiai room. ability to perform well in giving birth. At the same time, hypnosis permits the skilled physician to have his patient direct her attention elsewhere as the need arises thereby keeping her from experiencing any pain whatever. When properly "hypnoanesthetized," she later will retain nothing but pleasant memories of her delivery. Iloto about discomfort immediately after the "tcalces up"? Once a mother comes out of her trance, posthypnotic suggestion takes over to let her actually enjoy her hospital stay, free of all pain and discomfort That means no anesthetic no breast problems, no afterpains, hang-oveno pain from surgical repair, no constipation or hemorrhoids, no restlessness or sleeplessness, no complaints that the room is too hot or the mattress too hard. Elimination of pain and discomfort by posthypnotic suggestion works so well, in fact, that the doctor must take special care in examining his patient during her hospital stay to make sure he overlooks nothing that might need attention. As a final touch before leaving her trance, the new mother is asked if she wishes to nurse her baby or not If she does, ve implant this posthypnotic suggestion: on the second day after delivery, she will have all the milk her r, |