Self-hypnosis for children – skill for the future

12 December 2020

We were excited to read some news last week about a new hypnosis training programme organised by The UK College of Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy together with Great Ormond Street Hospital – Self-hypnosis for children – skill for the future.

A new hypnosis training programme for hospital psychologists and psychotherapists working with children reaches completion this week. Having learned the skills of using hypnosis techniques with children, these paediatric specialists are now able to begin with the exciting phase of implementing these new skills in their own working environments, and helping the children under their care.

The purpose of the course is to train psychologists how to teach young patients self-hypnosis techniques to manage anxious thoughts, relax more effectively and reduce pain perception, and will allow healthcare professionals to offer hypnosis alongside the other evidence-based psychological therapies currently used to treat children in hospitals. The possible reduction in stress and anxiety could help lead to smoother procedures for the children, their parents, and the medical teams.

Self-hypnosis for children – skill for the future – the training programme is based on cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy (CBH), an evidence-based model and integration of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with hypnosis. Several studies have shown that combining elements of hypnosis and CBT offered greater benefits than from either therapy alone. Crucially, the CBH approach places great emphasis on teaching people to use the hypnotic skills for themselves, instead of relying on the hypnotherapist.

Read the full article.

Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy and my approach to Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy

First off, I think it’s better to tell you what hypnosis isn’t. It isn’t a ‘hypnotist’ on the stage swinging an old fashioned pocket watch telling you to ‘look into my eyes’ while he attempts to get you to do the Moonwalk or eat an onion on the pretence it’s an apple for the gratification of a baying crowd.

It’s important to note that hypnosis on its own isn’t considered a therapy. It’s simply an altered state of awareness that increases the power of suggestibility which then allows the therapy strategies and techniques to be used most effectively.

It is essentially a cognitive state, a special state related to belief and imagination and not a state of ‘feeling’, although it may be accompanied by various feelings.

Hypnotherapy is a fully collaborative process between you and your therapist, where your goals are discussed and once a relevant and coherent treatment plan is drawn up, you embark on a guided hypnotic journey using powerful suggestions, imagery, visualisation and mental rehearsal to achieve your goals.

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH) combines Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with hypnosis to give your overworked mind the tools it needs to remedy its own stresses and feelings of anxiety. It focuses on the most up-to-date theories and techniques of hypnotherapy, psychology, psychotherapy and neuroscience to reverse the feelings of stress and anxiety as well as allowing you to understand what I do and why I do it.

CBH is evidence-based, in that there are clinical studies validating its effectiveness as a treatment for stress and anxiety and what I do here at Behavioural Freedom is to work with you to help you make positive and lasting changes to the way you think and act. I will also look to identify the underlying causes of what makes you stressed or anxious so that in time, you will become free of the unwanted behaviours that negatively affect how you live your life.

CBH is a fully integrated approach to treatment of stress and anxiety and increasingly, it is becoming the dominant approach to clinical hypnosis.

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for the treatment of stress and anxiety.

The benefits to you of using CBH (backed up by solid evidence and comprehensive research) are immediate –

  • The addition of hypnotherapy to CBT has been proven to shorten treatment times
  • Hypnosis enables you to see things more vividly in your ‘mind’s eye’
  • Hypnosis solidifies the relationship and builds rapport between you and your therapist
  • You can learn to ‘self-hypnotise’ by inducing a deep state of relaxation
  • Under hypnosis, you have an increased opportunity of receiving and understanding the suggestions your therapist makes to free you from unwanted behaviours

Please contact me today to start the journey back to behavioural freedom.