Hypnotherapy and Children

Can children be hypnotised?

I am pleased to say YES they can! Children are often the best subjects for hypnosis because they haven't yet lost the use of their very furtile imaginations! From my experience they enjoy the process of hypnosis and do not have as many barriers as adults do!

As children learn and interact using play, I use specific techniques as well as hypnotherapy aimed at their particular age group. For example puppets, a teddy bear, coloured stones, stories etc.

Also from my experience in using Hypnotherapy with children, they do not need a long winded complicated explanation; just simple instructions and very quickly they are in hypnosis, using their active fantasy world where they can have the opportunity of making the changes necessary.

So much time and money is spent on the outer games and social activities; any parent or teacher reading this will be only too aware. The netball, the hockey, the football, the piano lessons, the singing lessons, the ballet lessons, the list goes on…….there has been, however, a slow but sure increase in the awareness of the importance of some very mind/body centred approaches to improving performance and relieving stress such like, basic breathing, movement, relaxation, meditation and hypnotherapy.

Often times when working with adults having negative memories, an unwanted behaviour or pattern that has become outmoded and just plainly detrimental from the past becomes apparent; I have thought how much easier it would have been to have been there at the time to assist the child with Hypnosis and EFT to integrate the incident into their experience without the negative patterns being formed. Negative memories from things your parents said, teachers said and did and not surprisingly what peers may have said.

Hypnotherapy can uninstall the negative “programming” in adults and help to rewrite your emotional patterns formed during formative years. How much easier it is to deal with the negative experiences for children at the time so

to speak. I find that children and young people respond in much the way they do with physical illnesses and dis-eases. One minute they can be quite poorly and then they are up and bouncing around, illness quite forgotten and off they go.

Now with a simple self-help procedure and hypnosis that is safe, easy to teach and learn and simple to use this is now possible with all emotional disturbances.                

My experience working with children and young persons at a General Hospital taught me a huge amount dealing with this age group. Some of these children and adolescents had experienced losses and situations that are hard to imagine BUT still always inspired and moved me with their resilience and desire to heal once given the tools to do so. 

Here are some things that Hypnosis and EFT can help alleviate in children and young adults.

• Fears 
• Phobias 
• Anxiety 
• Panic attacks
• Enuresis (bed wetting) 
• Nail biting 
• Trichotillomania (hair pulling 
• Stuttering 
• Anger 
• Thumb sucking 

Hypnotherapy can help benefit children to improve in areas such as:

• Sleep disorders 
• Social skills 
• Self Esteem 
• Confidence 
• Test and performance anxiety 
• concentration 

Here is an interesting article from the BBC News Channel under health Monday, 12 October 2009 07:35 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8299719.stm 

Children can 'imagine away' pain

Abdominal pain is common in children    Children can be taught to use their imagination to tackle frequent bouts of stomach pain, research shows.  A relaxation-type CD, asking children to imagine themselves in scenarios like floating on a cloud led to dramatic improvements in abdominal pain. The US researchers said the technique worked particularly well in children as they have such fertile imaginations. It has been estimated that frequent stomach pain with no identifiable cause affects up to one in five children.  The research, published in the journal Pediatrics, follows on from studies showing hypnosis is an effective treatment for a range of conditions known as functional abdominal pain, which includes things like irritable bowel syndrome.      There is really a dearth of information on how to manage children with abdominal pain   Professor David Candy     In this study, the children had 20 minute sessions of "guided imagery" - a technique which prompts the subject to imagine things which will reduce their discomfort. One example is letting a special shiny object melt into their hand and then placing their hand on their belly, spreading warmth and light from the hand inside the tummy to make a protective barrier inside that prevents anything from irritating the belly The researchers, from the University of North Carolina and Duke University Medical Center, said a lack of therapists led them to the idea of using a CD to deliver the sessions. In all 30 children aged between six and 15 years took part in the study - half of whom used the CDs daily for eight weeks and the rest of whom got normal treatment. Among those who had used the CDs, 73.3% reported that their abdominal pain was reduced by half or more by the end of the treatment course compared with 26.7% in the standard care group. In two-thirds of children the improvements were still apparent six months later. Anxiety It is not clear exactly how the technique works but studies have shown it is partly about reducing anxiety but there is also a direct effect on the pain response. Some researchers think hypnosis-like techniques reduce "hypersensitivity" in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome. Study leader Dr Miranda van Tilburg said it was especially exciting that the children were able to use the technique on their own. "Such self-administered treatment is, of course, very inexpensive and can be used in addition to other treatments, which potentially opens the door for easily enhancing treatment outcomes for a lot of children suffering from frequent stomach aches. "Children are very good at using their imagination - when you use this in adults you have to overcome a barrier first." Professor David Candy, a consultant paediatric gastroenterologist at Western Sussex Hospitals, said his team had tried hypnosis in a small group of children with severe abdominal pain problems and had 100% success rate. He added they are now keen to try the guided imagery technique to see if they can replicate the US findings. "There is really a dearth of information on how to manage children with abdominal pain and it's a very common problem which keeps children out of school."   Teresa would advise that for your child's safety and your reassurance she has appropriate clearance to work with children and young persons. It is also necessary for an adult or guardian to accompany the child.