Pediatric Hypnotherapy

Empowering self change with a variety of techniques such as hypnotic metaphor therapy, guided imagery & storytelling. Helping with ADD/ADHD, shyness, bed-wetting, trauma(s), anger management, limited beliefs, confidence, & more.

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To better understand the power & benefits of hypnotherapy for children, it is important to understand the subconscious mind, how it develops & its role in the behavior of an individual.

The subconscious is the part of the mind that saves & operates all of our automatic, repetitive actions, while the conscious part of the mind is responsible for discerning thinking & analytical problem solving. The subconscious response involves things that we do on a daily basis without thinking about it first such as going to the bathroom, brushing our teeth, & riding a bike. It also includes how we respond emotionally to events, interpersonal relationships & the world around us in our daily lives.

In hypnosis, we use methods for relaxation & focused attention to quiet the conscious mind & to bring the subconscious mind to the forefront. As the subconscious comes into focus, we can then work to transform distressed emotions, muddled beliefs, & adverse patterns that have already formed over the course of a child’s life.

Now that you know more about the role of the subconscious & how we work with this part of the mind in hypnotherapy, it is important to know how & when the subconscious mind is developed in order to fully understand the benefits of hypnotherapy for children & why hypnosis is such an effective method for mind-body wellness.

Paraphrasing from a great article written on kinforkids.com, “From the age 0-5 [& up to the age of 7], the brain is in its learning stage where it is most influenced. This stage of development is where the subconscious mind & it’s beliefs are formed. [The subconscious part of our mind runs all the time from just before our birth & is the only thing that’s running us, until roughly the age of 6, which is when we develop our conscious mind.]

Children come into the world with an open heart & an open mind. They are a sponge to the world around them, observing & trusting their parent’s/guardian’s & elder’s every reaction to the world. This trust causes a child to mimic their role models by adopting their subconscious beliefs.

A young child has no reasoning ability at this early age so everything they are told & shown is logged [& recorded into their subconscious memory bank.] The child’s subconscious observes their parents/guardians/elders [interpersonal relationships] & the experience within the family & takes note of:
Am I safe?
Am I worthy?
Am I accepted?
Do I have power in/over myself & my life?

[In addition to adopting the subconscious beliefs of their interpersonal relationships], a child’s beliefs are formed when emotions arise [due to certain events, circumstances & interpersonal relationships in their life] & the subconscious brain decides that ‘I am to be protected against feeling this way – it is too stressful & I don’t have the ability to process this big emotion.’ This emotion becomes too much, so in order to protect the self & find a sense of balance again a belief is formed such as, ‘I am not safe’, ‘I am not loved’, ‘I am not accepted’, ‘I am not good enough’, etc. These subconscious beliefs are then either solidified through repetition or rejected through observation of a new model as a child continues through life.

[In early childhood, a child’s mind takes in most all information as true, storing the information straight into the subconscious. This is because there are not yet any established belief systems based on previous experiences which could contradict the new information. This is how children develop set beliefs in early childhood that impact them for the rest of their lives.

By the age of  7, children have a set of beliefs that become increasingly difficult to change. From that time on, when new information is presented the subconscious evaluates it against existing beliefs, accepting or rejecting it. This is why our childhood becomes the baseline for how we perceive & react to the world & how our childhood development is one of the most important factors in determining one’s happiness in life.

As you can see, the age range of 0-7 is a fundamental time in a child’s overall development, however, ages 7-16 are also very significant.] From age 7, a child’s analytical self-consciousness starts to begin & they confirm their beliefs within their social groups. Are they safe/connected/accepted/powerful/what makes them worthy?

Then throughout their teenage years they reassess again with their families & peers. They attempt to replicate & push to confirm their beliefs.

When in therapy sessions with an adult, there is usually a pattern of confirmed subconscious beliefs – early childhood, age 7-9 & then age 14-16. Events may have replicated & we take on the response of others as our own identity.
When we accept ‘what others think of us is none of our business’ & ‘it wasn’t your fault’, our emotions are allowed to release & the belief dissolves, relieving us of the identity that others have given us.”

Having a greater understanding of a child’s development & how the subconscious mind impacts their world, you can better see the therapeutic value of clinical hypnosis with children & adolescence.

Children easily go into hypnosis & respond particularly well to its healing effects. Because children have not fully developed the areas of the brain responsible for cognition, they have more direct access to their subconscious.

For example, imagination is one of the most powerful tools to access the subconscious & is the tool most frequently used in pediatric hypnotherapy. In pediatric hypnotherapy we engage with the child’s imagination to create personalized sessions that align with the child’s interests, individualized needs & goals.