Hypnosis and Children

It is a common misconception that hypnosis can only be used with adults. In fact, children are some of the best hypnotic subjects. One of the most famous cases of hypnosis involved an eight-year-old boy in Germany in the eighteenth century. He had to undergo an operation to remove a tumour on his head, and there was no anaesthesia available. To distract him from the pain, his mother told him the fairy tale Snow White, and he was so engrossed in the story that he felt little discomfort and the operation was a success. As a side note, he later republished the story of Snow White in the popular book “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”

Children are so responsive to hypnosis because of their large imaginations. Up until the age of puberty, most children don’t develop their critical faculty-the part of their brain which divides the “believable” from the “unbelievable.” This means that they are more willing to accept suggestion without doubt than their adult counterparts.

Often times, parents use waking hypnosis on their children without even realising it. If a child is afraid of the dark, a parent will offer him a stuffed animal that will “guard” him and keep him safe. Immediately, the child feels reassured and is able to fall asleep easily. Similarly, children are sometimes able to hypnotise themselves without even realising it. It isn’t uncommon for a child who is faking sick to get out of school to have convinced themselves so wholeheartedly that by the end of the day, he actually does experience the symptoms he was pretending to have.

Because many of the issues that come back to haunt us later in life begin in childhood, hypnosis for children is an excellent way of nipping problems in the bud. Certain problems children can be hypnotised for include: bad habits (such as nail-biting), destructive behaviour, low self-esteem and poor concentration/effort in school.

Luke Chao is the founder of The Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis, a leading hypnosis firm providing hypnotherapy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can visit the Morpheus Clinic at: http://www.morpheusclinic.com