Birth preparation: When birth becomes mental training

This article is part of TIME on the weekendissue 01/2024.

“Simply great,” writes one mother about hers birth. She would prefer to give birth to her child again. Not only because she was finally able to hold her baby in her arms afterwards, but also because the birth itself was so beautiful. Other mothers describe their births as “painless” or at least bearable and “peaceful.”

Hundreds of these unusual, positive birth reports can be found in books and on websites about so-called mental birth preparation. One of these trainings is called hypnobirthing and was developed in the 1980s by the hypnotherapist Marie Mongan. Mongan used the findings of the British doctor Grantly Dick-Read, who wrote in his 1933 book Natural Childbirth first established a connection between fear of childbirth and birth pain. Namely: When a person is afraid, the body tenses up; he literally closes himself off. However, during childbirth, the woman needs to relax so that the cervix can open. If a woman is not afraid, she can give birth more easily – and she has less Painsbecause the baby slides through the birth canal more easily.