Can children benefit from Hypnotherapy? Yes they can!

Absolutely children can benefit from Hypnotherapy. I have heard both sides of the coin. One states that children can easily enter trance and are wonderful hypnotherapy subjects, as well as the opposite, that children don't have a basic understanding of what is required of them to adequately undergo a session. Also on the flip side I have heard that hypnotherapy can brainwash children. Here's my take.

It is very true that children can readily enter trance. They do it with such ease and grace that adults misinterpret it as imagination and fantasy play. While most of it is play time for children, there is true benefit. When a child plays, they develop an imaginary world and they act out all the characters involved. When they don't like something, they simply change it until they are satisfied. This is in reality a trance and children frequently perform self-hypnotic techniques of inner child, house as a metaphor and healing.

A hypnotherapist is needed for one of two reasons, when a child is having difficulty understanding and integrating an event or when the parent has a hard time understanding and integrating an event. Hypnotherapy for children is supervised and guided in a certain direction. The way a session is conducted differs from the way an adult session would unfold.

Using an example of a divorce, a child may easily blame themselves for the parents. A hypnotherapy session may involve an open-eye trance using colorful characters, such as their favorite TV show (Dora the Explorer), practicing EFT (which to children is a fun, hokey-pokey dance) and using the sandtray. The sandtray is again an open-eye trance using miniature toys. The child places and plays with the toys within a tray full of sand. The actual play that the child creates is what leads to healing, understanding and integration. The hypnotherapist guides the play to address areas where disharmony is found. Using again the divorce example, a child might place 3 teddy bears in different corners of the tray and place 2 bridges in the middle. The hypnotherapist addresses the placing of the bears, the meaning of the bears and the bridge and the reason for the 2 bridges. The child may eventually place one bear in the middle, surrounded by the 2 bridges, each leading to another bear. This would be a more harmonious tray and the child literally is recreating the family image and is gaining better understanding and integration of the situation. All this while having fun!

Fairly frequently children become clients because of their parents and the parents as well could benefit from family hypnotherapy and separate individual sessions. Children mimic parents and it is important for both mom and dad to have a protective and healthy attitude.

As with any hypnotherapy, the client sets the tone and the client determines how much work they are willing to do. Some work is slow and steady, getting a little accomplished in a longer period of time (getting the work done at a comfortable pace), and some is quick, undergoing a more dramatic process within a few sessions. It is very individual. The hypnotherapist serves as a witness and a guide. They hold a safe, protective role.

I hope this clarifies and simplifies the benefits that hypnotherapy can have for children and adults alike. For more information of hypnotherapy and sandplay, visit http://www.spiritbeyond.com/. The following are a couple of sample sandtrays.

Adriana Kugman is a CCHT and Energy Therapist practicing in the East Bay, CA.