Hypnotherapy for Young Children and Teenagers

Hypnosis to treat young people — Photo credit to: Envato Author

Why Hypnotherapy is so successful for children

Children are naturally open to hypnotherapy as they have few if any misconceptions about hypnosis. Most of them, especially the younger ones, have never heard of stage hypnotists so an explanation about the vast differences between what I do in therapy and what stage hypnotists do on stage is not necessary for the young clients. Mum or Dad may need to be reassured but I take care to answer all questions thoroughly during our Free Consultation. Treatment is explained to each client using appropriate language to ensure they understand every step of this journey to recovery.

One of the reasons hypnotherapy is so successful for children is that children use their imaginations on a daily basis for much longer than adults. They can easily move from being a fairy princess to a dinosaur or a character in their favourite television programme in seconds. So when I ask them to imagine or visualise themselves in their bed or at the hospital, for example, they can do so immediately.

Solution Focused Child Centred Therapy

In therapy it is the child’s needs which are paramount and as such I work very closely with each child making them fully understand this. Once the children realise that they have a say in the final outcome therapy naturally flows. The therapy is solution focused, that means that the child, parent, and I all work together to get the best outcome for the child.

Though treatment is child centred parents play a very important role in the progress of therapy. Positive reinforcement is so important between sessions and long after sessions have finished. This may mean asking the parents to change the way they talk about the problem while the child is receiving treatment. A change in tense can be so significant; setting the problem in the past and allowing the possibility of change to sink into the child’s subconscious mind much more quickly.

In the western world a child is anyone under the age of eighteen and teenagers respond as well as younger children. Needless to say more appropriate language and questioning is necessary to engage a teenager.