Children:The Best Subjects
Multiple Uses of Hypnotism
Children often are marvelous subjects for hypnosis. Once they have developed to the level where they have an adequate attention span they tend to be easily hypnotizable. This may be due to the fact that much of early childhood is spent in hypnosis. Children play games that include deep involvement, which is a form of hypnosis. They indulge in fantasies and pretend experiences, which are forms of hypnosis.
Children are additionally benefited by the fact that many inhibitions that commonly affect adults have not yet developed. Children also have limited capacities for critical judgment. Trust and positive rapport are essential and bringing out these qualities can be difficult, especially in cases where a child is presented by a feared authority figure. Confidence must be earned. Apprehensions must be allayed. Communication must be established. APPLICABLE UTILIZATION'S
Why would a child need or be benefited by hypnosis? Like the famous answer to the question, "How do I love thee?" – let me count the ways! Certainly among important usages must be the early control or elimination of childish habits – bed-wetting, nose picking, mannerisms and often attitudes. As children grow older hypnosis can dramatically affect attention problems, learning enhancement, study procedures, anxieties (whether from home, school or other sources), self¬ esteem, motivation, athletic performance, creativity, non-understood grief (or loss or separation) – the list is virtually endless.
To a professional it is incredible the amount of damage that can be and is done to children by parents, relatives, siblings, teachers or authority figures. Much of it is well meaning efforts intended to provide direction and motivation, coming from a trusted source who intends no harm.
However, children differ (just as adults do). Some are introverts, some are extroverts; some come from homes that offer praise and encouragement, others come from environments where criticism and lack of recognition are considered appropriate; some come from environments of love, some come from environments of discord and abuse. One of the greatest gifts a child can receive is prolonged contact with an individual (whether teacher, parent, older sibling, coach or counselor) who can and will offer sensitivity, understanding and appreciation of value.
Children respond to comments by authority figures in differing ways. A parent or teacher, on viewing a poor report card, might comment: "You are going to be the dumbest kid in the class all your life!" The intent might well be to motivate the child to change this detrimental distinction by trying harder. A self-assured child might respond in that manner. Yet an insecure child might well accept the statement literally as a true prognostication and experience a psychological inner flip which locks in place acceptance of the self as unworthy, incapable and doomed to fulfill the stated destiny.
The files of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and hypnotists are filled with cases of adult clients who have sought therapy to get out from under self-deprecating childhood imprints imposed by well-meaning (and often not so well-meaning) guardians.
THE GIFT OF IMAGERY
Young children are not usually aware of the complexities of the mind, or of its fantastic array of powers. They do not comprehend that, "what the mind can conceive, the body can achieve." They do not understand the dramatic capabilities of visualization. Yet they have the child's natural talent for dreaming-for picturing achievements of childhood ambitions in their minds. It is this characteristic that the hypnotist can use to surmount the afflicting problems and free children from bonds which restrict them from achieving their potentials.
Children normally are very visual. They respond beautifully to tales, bedtime stories, and related communications with which they can identify. They are quite narcissistic-they like to have a part in a story that is being related and tend to slip into hypnosis easily.
Children in the six or seven age range have little difficulty. Those in the four to six range, with shorter attention spans, may respond to induction techniques that are less formalized or directive. Preschool ages may combine the worlds of fantasy and reality. Pre-induction data should focus on gathering information about a child's likes and dislikes, fears, imagery experience, and social environment-all in a manner in keeping with the child's communication level and oriented toward building rapport.
Being familiar with and participating in the child's play therapy may help develop rapport, revealing the child's interests and imaginative capabilities. Play can be a wonderful vehicle for implementing positive suggestions.
Among older children and adolescents hypnosis has been effective in dealing with behavioral problems and delinquency. Clinicians, regrettably, often turn to hypnosis as a last resort. Experience indicates success is greater when the patient acknowledges distress and has personal motivation to change. The fact remains that hypnosis is virtually impossible in cases where the client does not want to be hypnotized. Successful hypnotism demands patient assent and cooperation.
Hypnotism for drug abuse, for example, virtually requires that the client be aware of and concerned with the potential for harm and have an expressed desire for change. Hypnotists must be aware that teenagers with behavior problems may be struggling for autonomy; therapists need to evaluate and understand the extent of the client's motivation for change, and the cognitive, social, emotional and psychosexual development factors which contribute to attitudes and behaviors.
This informational download is presented for the information of the general public to discuss applications of hypnosis.
The National Guild of Hypnotists was founded in 1951 and is the oldest and largest organization of its kind.
Professional membership in the NGH signifies that an individual possesses specific qualifications, agrees to abide by a strict code of ethics, and will pursue continuing education studies for annual re-certification.
Medical or psychological referrals may be required for certain conditions.
This information was researched by the NGH educational faculty and is distributed as a public information service by its members.
©1999 National Guild of Hypnotists, Merrimack, NH 03054
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Obese teens become severely obese adults
Adolescents who are obese are 16 times more likely to become severely obese adults than normal weight or overweight teens, according to new research in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A severely obese person carries an extra 80 to 100 pounds more than someone of normal weight, putting them at increased risk for multiple health problems and a shorter life expectancy.
Researchers analyzed data of 9,000 adolescents covering a span of 13 years to try to determine how weight as a young person influenced weight as an adult. The subjects, who ranged in age from 12 to 21 when the study begin, were divided into three weight groups: normal, overweight, and obese.
"We found that for the teenage girls who were obese, 51 percent of them became severely obese by their early 30's. For males it was 37 percent," explains study author Penny Gordon-Larsen, Associate Professor of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In contrast less than 5 percent of normal weight teens went on to become severely obese adults.
"We need to help prevent kids from gaining weight because once that weight is gained, especially at the severe obesity level, it's very hard to get people to lose weight," explains Gordon-Larsen.
The researchers also found that teens who were overweight but not obese when the study started, more than 15 percent of the girls and 6 percent of the boys went on to become severely obese adults. Overweight African-American girls were more likely than their white peers to bump up to the highest weight category.
Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital Boston says this study confirms evidence of the severe impact of childhood obesity. "This underscores the importance of addressing childhood obesity as an urgent issue and not a condition that kids can be expected to grow out of," he said.
What does it mean to be severely obese? Normal weight for a woman 5 feet 4 is about 135 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overweight is about 150 pounds, obese 180 pounds, and severely obese an alarming 235 pounds.
And those added pounds increase a person's risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers and other conditions.
More than one in six U.S. teens is obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, numbers experts find alarming.
"The epidemic of obesity in this generation of children may shorten life expectancy for the first time since the civil war, unless something is done about it," explains Ludwig.
Researchers say the first step is to intervene early in life to help children develop good health habits before they become adolescents.
"We know from a range of studies that we need to tackle this at the individual level, we need to tackle it at schools, pediatric clinics, in the environment. We need to do a lot of different kinds of things. It's not just one solution," says Gordon-Larsen.
Post by: Leslie Wade - CNN Medical Producer
Filed under: Adolescent Health • Body Image • Obesity
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