Is child hypnosis different from regular hypnosis?

Hypnosis can be an excellent therapeutic technique for both adults and children. However, child hypnosis differs from ordinary hypnosis for adults in a few ways. This should not come as an immediate surprise to you, because children have very different brains than adults: they think differently and react emotionally often very differently from adults.

Children engage in hypnosis differently

As a result, children may have some very specific problems that you can relate to development of the body and mind. Some of the biggest problems, however, they share with adults. Just think about stress, insecurity and performance pressure (for example, at school). It is for this reason that the basic principles of hypnosis remain simply applicable to children.

Hypnosis for children can be particularly effective, as children often have a very large imagination. In this way, as a hypnotherapist, you can bring the patient into hypnosis much more easily and the therapy can continue in an easy and efficient way. The subconscious mind is easier to access in children because their brains are still developing.

As a result, you as a hypnotherapist can achieve results in child hypnosis very quickly. Also, there are some hypnosis techniques that children are particularly fond of (for example, role-playing, storytelling and puppets) but may be more difficult for adults without much imagination.

What's the big difference between child hypnosis and adult hypnosis

The major difference between child hypnosis and adult hypnosis lies in the development of children's minds versus adults. Children are used to learning new things every day, while adults have often built up a lot of preconceptions over the years.

Hypnotizing someone who is firmly convinced that hypnosis is nonsense is not necessarily easy. Adults don't always have an easy time exposing their subconscious either. Children are much more open to new things and are more likely to go along with the procedure followed by the hypnotherapist.

There are several problems specific to children where child hypnosis can therefore surely provide a solution. For example, consider bad habits such as thumb-sucking and bed-wetting that children can unlearn through a few hypnosis sessions. Fears that are typical (but not exclusive) to children, such as fear of the dark, can also be resolved through child hypnosis.

Children can also face difficulties at school. Often the stress caused by homework, tests, teachers and fellow students is more than a parent can imagine. Hypnotherapy to get rid of school-related stress is an excellent idea, because hypnosis allows children to learn new ways to cope with stress and psychological pressure. These are skills that the child will probably never unlearn and will continue to use for the rest of his or her life.

The bottom line is that children are excellent candidates for hypnosis. Hypnosis in children works even better than in adults because of their rich imagination and open attitude. The techniques a hypnotherapist will use in child hypnosis are specifically geared toward children, but still rely on the same basic principles of hypnosis: lasting positive change through the subconscious mind.

Not convinced? Do this to your child

Just ask your child when he or she feels angry, sad or unpleasant, what color that feeling is. This seems like a separate question, but for small children it is normal. For example, they might say red. Then you can say, "Make it in your favorite color? And when your child does that, the feeling changes. So quickly, because children go along with the suggestion. This is pure child hypnosis.

From about six or seven years old, children can do fine in hypnosis and when they are younger it works best when you work with metaphors and stories. For more information on that, I can recommend the booklet "Healing Stories" by Paul Liekens.

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