Safe, fast, easy and non-invasive, hypnotherapy is an effective treatment for many physical and psychological conditions of childhood as well as a proven method to help children (and families) manage developmental transitions, improve academic, athletic and other performance and enhance personal growth. For many years medical and mental health professionals were under the mistaken impression that children could not be hypnotized. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Because they are so free in their imaginations, so open to play and so unbound by social convention, most children love to go into trance and usually do so easily.

Here is a partial list of some of the problems children experience for which hypnosis and hypnotherapy have been helpful.

• General Anxiety: Excessive worries and fears that interfere with daily life and/or manifest in physical symptoms such as headache, upset stomach and skin eruptions.

• Social Anxiety: Worries and fears about interacting with other people that restrict play, relationships and new experiences.

• Dental Anxiety: Worries and fears that make going to the dentist a traumatic event. (See Hypnodontics.)

• School Phobia: Fear and panic that interferes with going to school and education.

• ADD/ADHD: Poor attention and/or hyperactivity that interfere with education.

• Study Habits: Poor self-discipline and difficulty with motivation and structuring time.

• Test Anxiety: Excessive fear that often manifests physically and interferes with the ability to take tests.

• Performance Anxiety: Excessive fear that often manifests physically and interferes with public speaking and/or musical, athletic, stage and other performance.

• Sleep Disturbances: Persistent trouble falling asleep, insomnia, nightmares and sleep walking.

• Bed Wetting: When it’s persistent and threatens self-esteem.

• Thumb Sucking: When it threatens to distort teeth and/or to improve self-esteem.

• Nose Picking: When it threatens health and/or to improve self-esteem.

• Hair Pulling: When it’s habitual, damages the hair and scalp, and/or to improve self-esteem.

• Stuttering and Selective Mutism: Persistent trouble speaking clearly or anxiety about speaking.

• Eating and Food Issues: Poor appetite, picky eating.

• Smoking: If a teenager wants to quit.

• Weight: If a child or teen-ager wants to gain or lose for reasons of health and/or self-esteem.

• Hypchondriasis and Psychosomatic Illnesses: Excessive worry about getting sick and/or illnesses without an apparent physical cause.

• Life Transitions: Concerns about geographic moves, a new school, changes in the family (divorce, death, remarriage, birth) as well as problems arising in the context of the developmental stages of childhood and adolescence.

In addition, hypnosis has proven to be an effective adjunct treatment for children who suffer from the following disorders and diseases.

• Allergies

• Asthma

• Broken Bones

• Burns

• Cancer

• Dermatological illnesses

• Diabetes

• Headache, Tension and Migraine

• Hemophilia

If you have questions about how hypnotherapy can help your child, please call Dr. Arnett for a free consultation.