ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Obstetrics and Gynecology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1671398
This article is part of the Research TopicPerinatal mental health: Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and FearView all 26 articles
Effects of Group Hypnotic Intervention on Pregnant Mental Health and Delivery Mode: A Retrospective Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Changzhou Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Changzhou Medical Center, Nanjing Medical University, changzhou, China
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Background: Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent during pregnancy, with psychological interventions being recommended as the first-line treatment. Objective: This study examined the effects of group hypnotic intervention on prenatal depression&anxiety symptoms and delivery mode. Methods: In a single-center retrospective observational design, 237 pregnant women were included. The intervention group received group hypnotic sessions, while the control group received standard prenatal care. Baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were recorded, including scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and heart rate variability (low-frequency/high-frequency ratio [LF/HF]). Measurements were collected at three gestational timepoints (pre-intervention, post-intervention, 38 weeks' gestation). Between-group and within-group differences in symptom scores and LF/HF were analyzed, and logistic regression assessed the association between intervention and delivery mode. Results: Within-group analyses demonstrated sustained improvement in depression/anxiety symptoms (P < 0.001) and increased LF/HF ratio (P < 0.001) in intervention group from pre-intervention to 38 weeks' gestation. In contrast, the control group exhibited reduced HADS, HAMD, and HAMA scores at post-intervention (vs. pre-intervention; P =0.002–0.003), but returned to baseline levels at 38 weeks' gestation (vs. pre-intervention, P =0.083-0.216). Between-group comparisons revealed significantly greater reductions in HADS, HAMD, and HAMA scores across all time points in intervention group versus controls (P < 0.001 for all). Vaginal delivery rates were also significantly higher in the intervention group (P = 0.04). Conclusions: Group hypnotic intervention effectively alleviated prenatal depression and anxiety symptoms, improved vaginal delivery outcomes, suggesting its integration into routine prenatal mental healthcare protocols.
Keywords: hypnotic intervention, Maternal Mental Health, BIRTH OUTCOMES, prenatal depression, prenatal anxiety, vaginal delivery
Received: 23 Jul 2025; Accepted: 15 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cui, Chen, Yuan, Hu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xuelian Cui, cuixuelian2006@163.com
Zhiwei Liu, lzwei117@163.com
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