Hypnosis is a procedure during which a health professional or researcher suggests that a client, patient, or subject experience changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, or behavior. The hypnotic context is generally established by an induction procedure.
Although there are many different hypnotic inductions, most include suggestions for relaxation, calmness, and well-being. Instructions to imagine or think about pleasant experiences are also commonly included in hypnotic inductions. People respond to hypnosis in different ways. Some describe their experience as an altered state of consciousness. Others describe hypnosis as a normal state of focused attention, in which they feel very calm and relaxed.
ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS is a concept used by some scientists and most clinical hypnotists to imply that hypnosis produces a condition different from the waking state, the sleep state, some meditation states, etc. On the other hand, many scientists believe that the facts of hypnosis and what one can do with hypnosis can be explained without using the term 'state.
According to the American Psychological Association Division of Psychological Hypnosis,
"Hypnosis is not a type of therapy, like psychoanalysis or behavior therapy. Instead, it is a procedure that can be used to facilitate therapy. Because it is not a treatment in and of itself, training in hypnosis is not sufficient for the conduct of therapy. Clinical hypnosis should be used only by properly trained and credentialed health care professionals . . . who have also been trained in the clinical use of hypnosis and are working within the areas of their professional expertise."
Hypnosis is a natural mental state. For example, children are often in a state of self-hypnosis when they are playing imaginary games. Actors and athletes often use it to improve their performance. Because people are open to suggestion while in a hypnotic state, they can learn to change their thoughts, feelings, behavior, and attitudes.
People can take these changes that happen during hypnosis and use them for self-improvement in their usual state of consciousness. For example, hypnosis can be used to help reduce anxiety, control pain, control the perception of discomfort during medical procedures, lessen discomfort of physical symptoms, and break bad habits.
As currently practiced, hypnotherapy most often involves teaching a child how to self-hypnotize in order to control bad habits, physical symptoms, and other conditions. The child learns to use relaxation techniques and mental images—similar to a daydream or fantasy—to enter an “altered mental state” (in other words, to induce hypnosis).
Once in this altered state, the therapist makes suggestions aimed at producing the desired change in behavior, anxiety level, or symptom intensity . These may range from recalling times of feeling happy and well in a child with chronic pain, to thinking of the body as a “computer” that the child can “program” with his or her mind.
The child may also receive specific teaching about their problem as a means of helping them learn to exercise control over their body. For example, a child with nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) may be taught the basic anatomy and function of the bladder. Ultimately, the child is able to induce self-hypnosis when needed to achieve the desired changes.
Some uses of hypnotherapy in children:
Hypnotherapy has been used to treat hundreds of behavior disorders, chronic diseases, and pain and discomfort. Here's a partial list:
*Behavior problems:
#Habit/tic disorders including thumb-sucking , trichotillomania (hair-pulling) , Tourette's Syndrome .
#Nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting) .
#Evidence includes case reports as well as one clinical trial, in which hypnotherapy was shown to be more effective than medication.
#Sleep terrors, nightmares, and other sleep disturbances .
#Evidence is limited to case reports.
Swallowing problems, food aversions, and choking .
Evidence is limited to case reports.
Anxiety and stress.
*Chronic illnesses :
#Asthma
Case reports suggest that hypnotherapy may reduce episodes of wheezing or shortness of breath, and may decrease reliance on asthma medications.
#Cystic Fibrosis (CF)
A study in adults and children with CF suggests that hypnotherapy can reduce symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, anxiety, and other problems commonly faced by these patients.
#Migraine headaches
#Cancer
*Chronic pain in cancer patients:
Initial results from small studies showing that hypnotherapy can be used to manage chronic pain in children with cancer;
#Nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy
Several studies comparing hypnotherapy to anti-nausea medications and simple relaxation techniques show that hypnotherapy plus medications was more effective than medications alone in reducing nausea and vomiting. Children treated with hypnotherapy had less pre- and post-chemotherapy nausea and vomiting.
#Treatments: pill-swallowing, injections, and medical procedures
Hypnosis has been shown to be very effective in helping children through painful procedures like shots, IV pokes, even spinal taps and bone marrow studies.
There are lots mistaken beliefs about hypnosis. Here are the facts:
Hypnosis does not:
*Allow the hypnotherapist to control the subject's mind
*Cause people to fall asleep
*Make the subject forget what has happened
*Make people do things against their will
Probably the best way for your child to learn to use self-hypnosis is to work with a hypnotherapist for one or two sessions. A pediatric hypnotherapist can teach kids how to enter a state of hypnosis, and give themselves constructive suggestions.
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