Scripts & Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children

for use with children and young people aged 5 to 15

Lynda Hudson

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9781845901394
• eBook ISBN: 9781845904005
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medical Theory, Practice & Reference

A handbook for therapists that contains everything needed when using hypnotherapy with children and young people. In addition to providing a collection of highly usable hypnotic scripts for children from six to sixteen, it offers an easy to follow, solution - focused way to structure treatment sessions. In addition, background information, advice, contra - indications and possible pitfalls are provided on common and not so common problems that children may present.

Chapter One

A Solution-Focused Approach

Differences between Working with Children and Working with Adults

Children are usually very open to hypnotherapy and they generally have fewer misconceptions about it than do adults since children, the younger ones at least, have not seen or heard of stage hypnosis.

Perhaps the biggest differences in working with children are in the degree of formality employed in terms of the structure of the session, the techniques used and the style of interaction with the child. Children tend to be accustomed to using their imagination; they live in it on a daily basis, switching easily from being a dinosaur, to a knight, to a Dalek or to a nurse in a matter of minutes. When I ask children to see a picture of themselves at school, in their bedroom or at the dentist, for example, I rarely encounter the response I sometimes get from adults who say that they can’t visualise the images or colours; children just do it. Similarly, if I ask a child to make a character bigger or smaller, it is done in a trice, which leads me to another difference in working with young people: the sessions often progress far more quickly than ones with adults.

Considerations

Always be prepared to use children’s metaphors when they are offered, since theirs will generally be far more effective than any you have dreamed up in advance. Children will identify intensely with their own ideas, characters, language and metaphors and thus have a more personally meaningful experience when their ideas and vocabulary are accepted and used.

A child’s age is an important factor to take into account, as it will affect his or her level of understanding of the concept of hypnosis. Having said this, chronological age can be very misleading; some 10 year olds are ‘going on 16’ and others are more like naive 8 year olds. Older children may have seen television programmes that show stage hypnosis, and so may have certain preconceptions about what is going to happen in the session. Think in advance about how you are going to explain to children what they are going to do and how the process will help them. Two or three stock ways of explaining the process to different age groups should be available. With younger children I usually talk in terms of having a ‘special’ part of their mind that is going to help them stop sucking their thumb or learn how to have dry beds while in a kind of daydream. Or I may ask them to play a special imagination game with me. If speaking to an older child, I generally use an explanation similar to the one I use with an adult perhaps substituting the words ‘inner mind’ for ‘unconscious mind’. I find that almost everyone understands the concept of an unconscious mind when I interrupt what we are talking about to ask the name of their favourite TV programme or if they know their phone number. Once they have answered, I point out that, although they were not consciously thinking about it beforehand, the number was stored in their unconscious (or inner) mind along with other memories, feelings and the knowledge of how to do all kinds of things, such as walking, using the computer or sleeping. These examples can be changed according to the interests of child, his or her age and the presenting problem.

A child’s ability or willingness to relax for long periods of time is, in part, determined by his or her age. Young children will wriggle about, often prefer to keep their eyes open, may physically act out your suggestions and appear far more ‘awake’ than their adult counterparts. They are likely happier engaging in a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) procedure than in a standard ‘adult’ relaxing induction. At the same time, you can find exactly the opposite response. With the right degree of rapport, using the most appropriate induction for the individual child and given the right ‘mood of the moment’, even the youngest of children can surprise you by enjoying a deeply relaxed, even sleepy state of hypnosis. However, just because this has happened on one occasion, doesn’t mean it will happen again the next visit. The same child may be less tired at the next session or just feel like having a more active interaction than before. The best advice is to always be on your toes and ready to swap a planned out approach for one that seems more appropriate at the time!

The age range I am focusing on in this book is from about 5 or 6 years old to 15 years old (although I have included the occasional script which could be used with children as young as 4 years old) but it is important to remember that anyone under the age of 18 years old is considered a minor in the eyes of the law in England and many other countries. I highly recommend that therapists working in private practice with children investigate and comply with the legal requirements and safeguards that apply in their own country. This step is essential for the protection of both the child and the therapist. For the safety and comfort of all concerned I am very happy to have a parent in the room, but I am careful to explain beforehand that generally I will be speaking to the child directly rather than about the child to the parent. This brings up another difference when treating children: parents and children may have different agendas regarding treatment goals and these may be either explicit or covert. For example, a child may feel perfectly happy just to improve classroom behaviour so as not to get into trouble at school whereas parents may feel that treatment has not been successful unless the child has stopped being difficult at home. It may be that such discrepancies need to be brought out into the open; how, when and where this is done will depend on individual circumstances.

When I speak to the parent initially, usually on the telephone, I explain that however young the child may be, it is important to set up the appointment so that the child wants to come. When children feel they are being dragged along against their will, they are unlikely to respond positively. I normally suggest that the parents say something along the lines of, ‘We’ve spoken to somebody who has helped lots of other children to stop sucking their thumbs (or whatever the presenting problem may be) and she thinks she could help you too, but only if you want her to help you. What do you think?’ This puts the onus of choice and responsibility on the child and lets the child know that you (the therapist) are on his or her side. In fact, when I first meet children I also check out that they really want me to help them, and it isn’t just their parents who think it’s a good idea. Normally, children are a bit surprised that I am asking and the interaction helps establish rapport.

Although it is important to sound confident about the likely success of treatment, words should be chosen carefully when talking to the child so as not to engender feelings of failure if the treatment doesn’t work as quickly as expected, or indeed occasionally, does not have an effect at all. It is good to be confident but also include various possibilities: ‘Usually children come to see me two or three times to sort out this kind of problem but everybody is different and you will do it in your own time and in your own way. Who knows, you might only need this one visit!’

It is important to explain the approach to parents before treatment begins and to gain their commitment to supporting the work to be done. This may mean practical support in terms of limiting drinks at bedtime in the case of nocturnal enuresis or it may mean more nuanced support in asking them to change the way they talk about the problem. A change of tense can be very significant; it can set the original problem firmly into the past and allow the possibility of change once the treatment has begun by simply learning to say, ‘He used to wet the bed nearly every night’ rather than, ‘He always wets the bed every night’. It is also wise to explain that, although change sometimes comes immediately, it can also happen gradually with the occasional setback if a child is tired or unwell. It is important that parents avoid making negative statements such as, ‘Oh, he‘s gone back to square one this week’ and instead describe the situation in a way that doesn’t defeat the child, such as, ‘There have been a few blips this week because he hasn’t been feeling well’. The most helpful thing parents can do is to acknowledge positive change wherever they notice it, and be supportive and not make an issue of it if there is little or no immediate change.

Summary: Things to do – Things to remember

To do:

• Check out legal and safety procedures and requirements when working with children.
• Prepare some age-appropriate explanations of hypnosis.
• Gain parental support for your approach between sessions.
• Speak directly to the child rather than about the child during the session.
• Use the child’s own ideas.

Remember:

• Positive language is important.
• The session is more informal.
• Children show a willingness to use their imagination.
• The progress of the session can be extremely fast.
• Expect the unexpected.

A Word About the Solution-Focused Approach

The Brief Solution Focused Model of therapy was originated and developed in the 1980s by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg, Larry Hopwood and Scott Miller at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. Steve de Shazer published the model in Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy (1985) and Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy (1988). Here is not the place for a detailed discussion of the solution-focused approach but the interested reader will find a list of books and helpful websites at the end of the book. Suffice it to say that taking a generally forward-looking approach with children is very safe and will normally bring very positive results. In my opinion, general regression techniques ar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Table of Scripts
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Chapter One : A Solution-Focused Approach
• Chapter Two : Inductions
• Chapter Three : Ego Strengthening and Self-esteem
• Chapter Four : Nocturnal Enuresis
• Chapter Five : Encopresis
• Chapter Six : Tics and Habits
• Chapter Seven : Anxiety
• Chapter Eight : Separation Anxiety
• Chapter Nine : Obsessive Thoughts and Compulsive Actions
• Chapter Ten : Sleeping Difficulties
• Chapter Eleven : Being Bullied
• Chapter Twelve : Behaviour Problems
• Chapter Thirteen : Learning and Exams
• References and Useful Resources
• Index
• Copyright