Hypnosis for Children: Alternative ways to treat childhood disorders and illnesses with hypnosis

Next time your child enters that glazed-over dreamy state while you are talking to him about cleaning his room, stop and think for a moment about how that could be used for something more positive. Children, who are easily bored and distracted by an adult's voice, may be the perfect candidates for hypnosis and hypnotherapy. The fact that they can tune out, puts them in the right frame of mindduring the induction stage of hypnotherapy to let that work process work for them extremely well.

Some of the uses for hypnotherapy include many common childhood illnesses or disorders such as:

- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
- Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Physical Pain
- Anxiety Disorders
- Behavioral Issues
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Most hypnotherapy used with children is in addition to and complementary to medical treatments, even though in many cases the hypnosis alone could be effective. For example, a child with ADD should also receive behavioral training for both the child and parents to compensate for the area of the brain that does not make the connections needed for proper attention span. The schools can also get involved in creating procedures to make up for the inability to focus, such as written instructions and follow up questions related to assignments. Then hypnosis can come in and work at redirecting thoughts so that the step-by-step focus that is missing in a child with ADD can be improved.

The medical and psychiatric community is still in its infancy in the adoption of hypnosis as a complete therapy without the additional medication, but the fact that there are many medical professionals using hypnosis in any form is promising. So in most cases, a child with ADD will still receive medication along with the behavioral management and hypnotherapy.
Hypnosis is basically the same for children as it is for adults. It is just as safe and just as effective, maybe even more so, than traditional therapies. It may be only that the conditions being treated are different. However, when a child or adolescent has something like OCD which can carry into adulthood, it can often be nipped in the bud during childhood with hypnotherapy.

When a child is hypnotized, they are still awake. It is a positive fact that they can easily go into that trance-like state that resembles the attention they give a parent's voice while they are watching their favorite television program. Subconsciously they are hearing the parents or the hypnotherapist, but it doesn't quite register until later. This is the desired result of hypnosis in children, just as it is with adults.

Hypnotherapy in children is not uncommon. It is most often associated with treating post traumatic disorders, but hypnosis is now being viewed as a viable treatment for many childhood conditions.

Steve G. Jones, Clinical Hypnotherapist
http://www.betterlivingwithhypnosis.com/