Much that goes on in an adults world can cause just the same problems for children. Anxiety, stress, grief, loss and change, fears and phobias, habits, worries and concerns - children can experience all of these too. The only problem is that sometimes a child can't understand what is happening to them, or why they feel a certain way or are behaving in a certain way, and do not know how to express it or feel too embarrassed, ashamed or silly to tell anyone about it.
Listed below are a few of the more common things that parents / caregivers or peers seek a hypnotherapist for in helping the children in their care.
There are many fears that can plague children:
fear of the potential danger in everyday living, such as:- fear of the dark, fear of going to sleep, fear of doctors, dentists and needles, etc.
Many children experience the embarrassment of habits they find hard to break, like bed-wetting or thumb sucking or nail biting.
A new baby or other addition to the family can cause undue stress. Even something like loss of their own bedroom space due to a new addition to the family, or having to move to a smaller place can make children unhappy.
An underlying fear personal safety such as being kidnapped and other abuses may affect our children far more than we realise, especially as there is so much more media attention focused on pedophiles, rapists and sex abusers.
School can be a very common problems for many children, such as changing schools or moving class, the loss of a friend who moves away, being shamed or frightened by a teacher, the death or serious illness of a school peer or teacher, boredom with school and having to make new friends. Unfamiliarity with schoolwork, or falling behind in a subject can cause excessive stress. The insistence upon “correct” performance in front of others in a classroom can be extremely hard on a shy child. Threats or bullying by other children, and the general fear and pressure of drugs and guns, in many schools, are serious concerns and add tremendous stress for certain children in some areas of the country.
Image is a 21st centuary disease. Both boy and girl pre-teens and
teen-agers perceive that being very thin, toned and beautiful just like the pop stars, supermodels and celebrities as seen on TV, in magazines and in films are what they have to aspire to. In their world this what it means to be accepted, and if they do not look, dress or emulate or follow these role models, then they feel they'll not be acceptable to their peers.
Young girls, especially, begin worrying about their weight at
any earlier and earlier age.
Rapid physical growth over short periods of time, and concerns about changes in their bodies can cause stress, embarrassment and loss of self-esteem.
The Media can play a huge part in the way children view themselves. Modern day culture provides an enormous spread of negative influences on our children. Television and films regularly present violence, sex and innuendo as the norm. This can create a feeling or fear of personal safety, that everyone has to have "great sex" or that violence is OK, when it goes against their personal code of conduct, which leads to feelings of isolation, low confidence and self esteem.
The Power of the Imagination
The imagination of children is very keen until parents, teachers and others interfere. In many schools, the style of teaching in the classroom can tend to rule out the playful and imaginative, once children passes through lower / primary / junior school and into upper school. When adults consider daydreaming worthless, when they call attention to its “childishness behaviour” to others, and associate imagination with lying, or otherwise imply ridicule and non-belief, the child gradually lets it weaken.
The doorway between the conscious and the subconscious mind is the imagination. For children, it's relatively easy to reach at the deepest levels, in a much quicker time than required by a good many adults. Stories, adventures, visualisation, imaginative games, role-playing, magic, puppets, and costumes work most effectively with children.
Any tools that one's stimulate the imagination should be at the hypnotherapist's disposal.
What Hypnosis Can Do For Children
Hypnosis works well because there are less years of reinforcing imprints on one's mind. Children are more susceptible to hypnosis. They have the drive to discover and they hunger for new experiences. They're open to new learnings, willing to receive and respond to new ideas, as long as they are presented in an understandable way. Children are usually easily relaxed and focused. They have an ability to change and to be versatile, and, before the age of twelve, to accept most ideas uncritically. They aren't as dominated by rational questioning and concerns that adults have formed through their life experiences. Also, they don't have the fears and misconceptions about hypnosis that so many adults have. This makes it relatively easy to work with them.