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- Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
A handbook for therapists that contains everything needed when using hypnotherapy with children and young people. In addition to providing a collection of highly usable hypnotic scripts for children from six to sixteen, it offers an easy to follow, solution - focused way to structure treatment sessions. In addition, background information, advice, contra - indications and possible pitfalls are provided on common and not so common problems that children may present.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009
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Praise forScripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children
Created from a combination of years of dedicated training and personal experience in practice, this book demonstrates the author’s excellent understanding of the uniqueness and complexity of each young client and offers the reader a perfectly constructed springboard from which to execute their own individual therapeutic delivery.
The text is liberally salted with beautifully crafted example scripts that evoke the memories and imaginings of childhood so vividly that they may even address those unresolved issues that lurk within each of us as adult readers.
This is a totally accessible manual, written with an obvious passion and sensitivity for the needs of the child and mercifully avoiding the unnecessary use of technical language wherever possible.
The author states in her preface that “whether you already work with children or are just thinking of doing so, this book is aimed at you”, and I can categorically confirm that she hits her mark with unnerving accuracy. I would also suggest that many therapists (and, by extension, their adult clients) are likely to benefit from this book even if they do not routinely work with children and consequently it would make a perfect addition to any practitioner’s library.
WilliamBroom, Chief Executive, The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council
At last, the book our profession has been waiting for, one those of us who know Lynda Hudson have been encouraging her to write for a long time. Lynda is the acknowledged expert on the use of hypnotherapy with children and her many years of experience are shared and reflected in the information, protocols, and creative and inventive scripts contained within this volume. Although aimed at the hypnotherapist, the broad spectrum of Lynda’s work found herein will be of immense value to therapists of all disciplines, providing ideas, encouragement and that often sought after source of sensible advice. Although it may seem a cliché to say, Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children really is an essential addition to any therapist’s library.
PeterMabbutt FBSCH, Director of Studies for the London Collegeof Clinical Hypnosis,co-authorofHypnotherapy for Dummies
This is a thorough, creatively composed and eminently practical book. Ms. Hudson has taken the principles of solution-focused therapy, oriented them skillfully towards the problems of children and adolescents and thereby produced myriad scripts and strategies that both illustrate and instruct. The scripts that form the heart of the book are appropriately nuanced and written flexibly allowing the clinician to adapt them to the individual child across a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. Hudson’s enthusiastic, compassionate and affirming voice comes through the text of the scripts. I particularly appreciate the author’s persistent emphasis on ego-strengthening and the modeling of permissive and responsive language which is central to hypnosis, particularly with young people. The framing of each set of scripts with an overview of the clinical problems for which they can be used, helpful strategies for engaging the child and parents, as well as extracts of the salient points of each chapter provide a unique depth to this text. Practical points for the parents of children with separation anxiety, the list of dissociation strategies, ego-strengthening guidelines and a host of other useful tips add to the book’s value as a desk-side reference. Taken as a whole, this rich volume captures the confident, positive, warm and imaginative spirit that embodies creative hypnosis with young people then distills it into an enjoyable and practical solution. I will use it a lot.
Laurence I. Sugarman, MDPresident, American Board of Medical Hypnosis, Fellow, American Academyof Pediatrics & American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, Clinical AssociateProfessor of Pediatrics, University ofRochester School of Medicine andDentistry, Co-Author/Editor –Therapeutic Hypnosis with Children andAdolescents, Producer –Hypnosis in Pediatric Practice: ImaginativeMedicinein Action
As a teacher/trainer of hypnotherapy practice for 37 years, I have seen many books which address aspects of the work. There has always been a gap in the available literature concerning the use of hypnotherapy with children.
Now, hypnotherapist Lynda Hudson’s new book, Scripts and Strategiesin Hypnotherapy with Children, supplies the much-needed approaches and techniques for working with children. Written without academic or scientific jargon, the many scripts for a great variety of juvenile problems are precise and useful tools. With the increasing recognition and growing popularity of hypnotherapy, parents are realizing that medicating their children to modify behaviour is often a mistake. Behaviour is subject to change and hypnotherapy can quickly pinpoint and reshape the form and nature of it. Children respond to hypnosis more easily than many adults and respond to suggestions of change with enthusiasm. This is a book for every hypnotherapist’s library, especially those who work with children or would like to learn how to work with them.
Gil Boyne, Executive Director, American Council of Hypnotist ExaminersFellow, National Council for Hypnotherapy
Scripts & Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children is a valuable resource for clinicians working hypnotically with children. Ms. Hudson’s stories are delightfully imaginative; her language is permissive and she includes ego-strengthening in every script to foster self-esteem and self-efficacy.
The book offers the reader scripts and strategies for a variety of common pediatric problems including anxiety, sleeping problems, habit disorders, enuresis and encopresis. Robots, fairies, treasure hunts and space ships contained in the metaphors will all entertain the child while the carefully crafted therapeutic message is embedded in the story thus cleverly bypassing any resistance to change.
The strategies and scripts offered by Ms. Hudson can be used to enhance a clinician’s existing area of expertise. The scripts are developmentally appropriate for the suggested ages and may be used verbatim or adjusted and incorporated into the clinician’s own personal style. When working with children, the skilled practitioner must be flexible and open to the child’s own creativity and spontaneity. Nearly anyone can learn how to induce a trance and certainly with children it is very easy, but the skilled and talented clinician will use the trance state to access the child’s inherent strengths and resources. The true magic of therapeutic change lies with the child. They possess the creative genius. The success of providing the child with the tools to discover the magic and resources within depends in large part on the therapeutic relationship, rapport and alliance between the clinician and the child. Ms Hudson’s book gives the clinician warm, caring and developmentally appropriate strategies that help foster rapport and successful hypnotherapeutic interventions with children. Ms. Hudson has provided the hypnosis world with a wonderful resource for working with children.
Linda Thomson, PhD, MSN, CPNP, Author ofHarry the Hypno-potamus, Volumes 1 and 2
I have often looked for a book like this on working with children, and this is an excellent volume. Lynda’s easy to read style helps make this both an easy as well as an informative read. All-in-all a well structured and easy to read book which will form a welcome addition to any hypnosis practitioner’s reference library.
Ursula James, Visiting Teaching Fellow, Oxford University Medical SchoolHonorary Lecturer atSt Georges Medical School &Bartsand the LondonSchool of Medicine and Dentistry, Phd researcher – London MetropolitanUniversity,Author of theClinical Hypnosis Textbook, You Can Be AmazingandYou Can Think Yourself Thin
Lynda Hudson is clearly an expert in her field. Here she has provided the hypnotherapist with a much needed comprehensive and practical guide to working with children. This book is an invaluable resource for any therapist and I highly recommend her strategies which I have used with great success in my own practise. This book will now be required reading for all our students of hypnotherapy.
Christina Mills, Founder and Director, The Isis School of Integrated Hypnotherapy
This comprehensive handbook for hypnotherapists and other professionals in the health care sector provides an extensive collection of sparkling crystal clear scripts and strategies with a problem-and age-appropriate approach for 5–15-year-old youngsters. Any difficulties children of this age group may encounter on their way to further development, whether of a physical, mental, educational, emotional, or behavioural nature is richly provided for by tailormade solution focused approaches. Lynda Hudson, a very experienced and highly professional therapist and lecturer, stresses repeatedly the importance of ‘going with the flow’ of information provided by the young clients themselves, speaking their language, using their learning style and adapting metaphors to their experiences so that the intervention is totally relevant to the child and therefore more powerful.
This unique handbook will provide professionals with many new, creative insights and suggestions to help relieve the difficulties so many youngsters and their immediate environment are experiencing.
Eleanor May-Brenneker MA; SpLDAPC
Those who treat children regularly will find this book a valuable addition to their bookshelf. It contains a wealth of useful advice, guidance and information when dealing with children and teenagers. It is clear, well written and comes from the pen of a therapist with great experience and skill in treating young people.
JohnS Hempstead, Chairman, British Society of Clinical Hypnosis
Lynda Hudson`s handbook does an admirable job in seamlessly integrating solution-focused and hypnotherapeutic approaches in providing a genuinely useful, clinically relevant, developmentally informed, practical source for hypnotherapists of all levels of experience working with children and young people.
The book offers a comprehensive collection of clinically informed, age appropriate hypnotherapeutic inductions and scripts which are easy to follow, individualise and implement. In addition the book contains advice on safe clinical practice and how to engage parents in treatment and provides useful references and websites.
This book will be of considerable interest for all hypnotherapists working with children and young people.
Karmen Slaveska-Hollis MD,Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (MRCPsych)
Scripts & Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children is a “must-read” for anyone who does hypnotherapy with children. The book is well-written. There are chapters on just about every childhood difficulty a therapist will encounter in working with children. Each of these chapters begins with an excellent summary of the condition involved (like self-esteem or encopresis). The hypnosis scripts are a joy to read since they incorporate hypnotic language usage of the highest order. The concepts of solution-focused brief therapy illuminate the scripts, as does the use of indirect (and direct where called for) language. Hudson obviously knows children and how to communicate with them. She also knows how to interact with parents to be able to enlist their cooperation and assistance in working with their child. The book is replete with common sense and practical advice for the practitioner. This is the best book of this type I have come across, and I cannot praise it too much. Hudson does not promise “cures,” but rather that the use of hypnosis will assist the child to be more relaxed, more comfortable with themselves, and more functional in his/her world. The scripts are imaginative and clearly designed to intrigue and interest and provide the child with ideas for his/her own progress and happiness. This book will be a resource to be consulted over and over again by all those who use hypnosis with children. Highly recommended.
Rubin Battino, Author ofEricksonian Approaches, Metaphoria, Coping, ExpectationandGuided Imagery
Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children
For Young People Aged 5 to 15
Lynda Hudson
For Jonathon,Frances and Tim
Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Scripts
Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter One A Solution-Focused Approach
Chapter Two Inductions
Chapter Three Ego Strengthening and Self-esteem
Chapter Four Nocturnal Enuresis
Chapter Five Encopresis
Chapter Six Tics and Habits
Chapter Seven Anxiety
Chapter Eight Separation Anxiety
Chapter Nine Obsessive Thoughts and Compulsive Actions
Chapter Ten Sleeping Difficulties
Chapter Eleven Being Bullied
Chapter Twelve Behaviour Problems
Chapter Thirteen Learning and Exams
References and Useful Resources
Index
Copyright
Table of Scripts
All ages given are approximate
Inductions
Resting story (5–7 years)18
Talk to teddy (5–6 years)19
Swinging hammock (6–10 years)19
Your mind shows your body how to get heavier (12 years upward)20
Relax and catch the numbers (12 years upward)21
Land of sweets/candy (6–11 years)22
Hop onto a passing cloud (6–12 years)23
Finger or hand levitation (10 years upward)24
Find the right place (10 years upward)25
Pretend the chair has turned into a spaceship (5–8 years)25
Look at the light switch (8 years upward)26
Comfortable cushions (any age)26
Ego Strengthening and Self-esteem
You are very special (5–9 years)33
Be good at being yourself (6–12 years)34
Compliments (any age)34
You are a good friend (7/8 years upward)35
Ladder of confidence (8–12 years)37
Wash off harmful messages from the walls of your inner mind (10 years upward)38
STOP messages on your mind computer (12 years upward)40
Nocturnal Enuresis
Stay dry all night long (5/6–9 years)53
Wake up and get up when you need the toilet (9 years upward)54
Calm and stretch your bladder (8 years upward)56
Encopresis
Poo in the toilet (4–6 years)68
Robot help station (4–6/7 years)70
Change your toilet habits (8–12 years)72
Right time and place jigsaw (8–12/14 years)74
Mr Smelly Poo (5/6–8 years)76
Tics and Habits
Spaceship master controls (5–8 years)82
You are in charge of your muscles (6/7–12 years)83
Turn off the tic (any age)85
Noises or twitches (10 years upward)87
Tic Script Extracts:89Various suggestions dealing with: the urge to blink/the urge to clear the throat/embarrassment or shame/explaining the problem to others/dealing with other people’s negative responses to you
Stop sucking your thumb (4–7/8 years)92
Anxiety
Rewind procedure (any age)105
Throw anxious feelings into the bin (4–8 years)111
Lucky dip (5–8 years)113
Treasure hunt (8–12 years)114
Worry castles in the sand (8–12 years)117
Virtual reality (10 years upward)119
Summary of Hypno-desensitisation procedure121
Separation Anxiety
A selection of useful suggestions (different ages)131
Keep your thoughts in the right place (6–12 years)133
Obsessive Thoughts and Compulsive Actions
Diminish the power of the unwanted thought (8/9 years upward)143
Future time capsule (8–12 years)145
Thought-stopping on your computer mind (12 years upward)147
Wait before you act (10 years upward)149
Trichotillomania hand levitation (10 years upward)154
Sleeping Difficulties
Deal with unwanted night-time thoughts (9 years upward)166
Whisper away night-time worries (5–8/9 years)167
Sounds don’t bother you at all (8–12 years)169
Suggestions for fear of the dark170
Being Bullied
Shrink the bully (6 years upward)178
Protective bubble (verbal taunting or abuse) (8–12 years)178
Museum of your mind (Building confidence, resilience and positive thinking) (10/12 years upward)180
Defeat the bully (8 years upward).184
Cyber bullying (12 years upward)187
Behaviour Problems
Good boy, well done (5–9 years)198
Calm and polite (9/10–14 years)199
Calm and well behaved in class (8/9–12 years)200
Congratulations on progress (5/6–8 years)202
Manage change and disappointment (9/10 years upward)203
Learning and Exams
Listening and getting started (8/10–14 years)213
Concentrate and stay focused (10 years215
Improve your studying/reading for information skills (homework) (12 years upward)218
Spelling strategy (adaptable to any age)221
Learning and Exams
Magic bus (Be confident for class work and tests) (adaptable to age 6–9222
Overcome exam nerves for older children (12 years upward)224
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank my husband, John(athon) for all his wonderful belief and support, ideas and suggestions, and his patient reading, re-reading and yet more re-reading of the manuscript.
My other thanks go to:
Dr Adam Skinner, paediatric anaesthetist at Melbourne Children’s Hospital for his invaluable help in checking my facts, and giving advice and input on the medical aspects of problems. He has been most generous with his time and expertise, particularly as I know how pressured he is. Any mistakes that might remain (I hope there aren’t any) are mine and not hisVery importantly, the enchanting children who have attended my clinic over the last fifteen years; without them, this book would not have been writtenJack and Tom Hudson for their helpful and enthusiastic trialling and advice on the suitability of scriptsBen (and Carolyn) for allowing me to discuss his treatment for ADHDJuliette Howe for her suggestion of The Land of SweetsEleanor May for her input on Dyslexia; Julian Russell; Mary McGlynn; Del Hunter Morrill for inspiring certain ideas (see the references section)All the students on my training courses who sparked off ideasThe friends, family and colleagues who have read and commented on my scripts and ideas, in particular Frances, and also Paula, Klodi and Chris; for helpful design comments, Linda, Tim, Cath, Barbara, Christine, Nina, Avril and AnneNLP trainers Michael Neill and Ian McDermott, clinical Hypnosis trainer, Michael Joseph in the early nineties, without whom none of this would have happenedUrsula James for her book You Can Be Amazing which encouraged me to ‘get on with it’ and finish the bookAt Crown House, David, for giving me no constraints, Bev and Rosalie for their work on my behalf and Tom for the cover design.Preface
Working with children has been interesting, surprising, challenging, fun, rewarding and, above all, it continues to be a fascinating journey of learning. Each child I see teaches me something new and challenges the last assumption I made. Whether you already work with children or are just thinking of doing so, this book is aimed at you. Although you could read it straight through, I suggest that you read Chapters 1 and 2 first and then dip into the balance of material as needed. The book could also be used by medical or health practitioners who want to make use of gentle hypnotic techniques in their work. Many of these ideas have been discussed in the training courses I have given on ‘Working with Children’, and I thank all of the students who inspired new ideas from the contributions they made.
In the first chapter I consider some general issues and assumptions when working with children and I propose a useful solution-focused approach to structure each session. Subsequent chapters deal with the problems I have most frequently been asked to help children deal with over the last few years. All chapters begin with some discussion of background information, things to look out for and possible pitfalls to avoid. This section is followed by a selection of scripts, all of which have been used successfully, adapted and improved, many over the course of more than 10 years. Although different age ranges are suggested for each script, readers are encouraged to adapt the scripts as they see fit to suit the individual child in front of them. I have tried to offer several different scripts for each specific problem, in part to appeal to various thinking styles (visual, auditory and kinaesthetic), ages and interests, and in part because, in the real world, one script delivered on one visit is unlikely to be the final answer to any problem. This collection contains enough scope for two or three visits. I hope you will enjoy using, modifying and elaborating on these ideas as much as I have enjoyed developing them with my child patients over the years.
Within the scripts, comments for the therapist are in bold and set off by the symbol before and after the comment.
Pauses in the script are indicated by the ellipsis symbol ….
Italics are used to show where to modulate your voice for additional emphasis in order to highlight embedded commands or particularly important phrases.
To my non British readers
As I am English and live in London, I have used largely British English vocabulary, spelling and expressions although I have offered some alternatives as I have gone along, e.g. ‘candy’ for ‘sweets’ and ‘gotten’ for ‘got’. British spelling uses ‘practice’ for the noun and ‘practise’ for the verb so please don’t think we have forgotten to proof read the text! I know in America you have ‘Moms’ and not ‘Mums’ and maybe you use ‘good job’ instead of ‘well done’ or ‘brilliant’. It just becomes a little too unwieldy to try to include expressions to suit everybody but I hope you will feel free to adapt the text as you see fit for the particular child in front of you. Thank you for your understanding.
Lynda
Chapter One
A Solution-Focused Approach
Differences between Working with Childrenand Working with Adults
Children are usually very open to hypnotherapy and they generally have fewer misconceptions about it than do adults since children, the younger ones at least, have not seen or heard of stage hypnosis.
Perhaps the biggest differences in working with children are in the degree of formality employed in terms of the structure of the session, the techniques used and the style of interaction with the child. Children tend to be accustomed to using their imagination; they live in it on a daily basis, switching easily from being a dinosaur, to a knight, to a Dalek or to a nurse in a matter of minutes. When I ask children to see a picture of themselves at school, in their bedroom or at the dentist, for example, I rarely encounter the response I sometimes get from adults who say that they can’t visualise the images or colours; children just do it. Similarly, if I ask a child to make a character bigger or smaller, it is done in a trice, which leads me to another difference in working with young people: the sessions often progress far more quickly than ones with adults.
Considerations
Always be prepared to use children’s metaphors when they are offered, since theirs will generally be far more effective than any you have dreamed up in advance. Children will identify intensely with their own ideas, characters, language and metaphors and thus have a more personally meaningful experience when their ideas and vocabulary are accepted and used.
A child’s age is an important factor to take into account, as it will affect his or her level of understanding of the concept of hypnosis. Having said this, chronological age can be very misleading; some 10 year olds are ‘going on 16’ and others are more like naive 8 year olds. Older children may have seen television programmes that show stage hypnosis, and so may have certain preconceptions about what is going to happen in the session. Think in advance about how you are going to explain to children what they are going to do and how the process will help them. Two or three stock ways of explaining the process to different age groups should be available. With younger children I usually talk in terms of having a ‘special’ part of their mind that is going to help them stop sucking their thumb or learn how to have dry beds while in a kind of daydream. Or I may ask them to play a special imagination game with me. If speaking to an older child, I generally use an explanation similar to the one I use with an adult perhaps substituting the words ‘inner mind’ for ‘unconscious mind’. I find that almost everyone understands the concept of an unconscious mind when I interrupt what we are talking about to ask the name of their favourite TV programme or if they know their phone number. Once they have answered, I point out that, although they were not consciously thinking about it beforehand, the number was stored in their unconscious (or inner) mind along with other memories, feelings and the knowledge of how to do all kinds of things, such as walking, using the computer or sleeping. These examples can be changed according to the interests of child, his or her age and the presenting problem.
A child’s ability or willingness to relax for long periods of time is, in part, determined by his or her age. Young children will wriggle about, often prefer to keep their eyes open, may physically act out your suggestions and appear far more ‘awake’ than their adult counterparts. They are likely happier engaging in a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) procedure than in a standard ‘adult’ relaxing induction. At the same time, you can find exactly the opposite response. With the right degree of rapport, using the most appropriate induction for the individual child and given the right ‘mood of the moment’, even the youngest of children can surprise you by enjoying a deeply relaxed, even sleepy state of hypnosis. However, just because this has happened on one occasion, doesn’t mean it will happen again the next visit. The same child may be less tired at the next session or just feel like having a more active interaction than before. The best advice is to always be on your toes and ready to swap a planned out approach for one that seems more appropriate at the time!
The age range I am focusing on in this book is from about 5 or 6 years old to 15 years old (although I have included the occasional script which could be used with children as young as 4 years old) but it is important to remember that anyone under the age of 18 years old is considered a minor in the eyes of the law in England and many other countries. I highly recommend that therapists working in private practice with children investigate and comply with the legal requirements and safeguards that apply in their own country. This step is essential for the protection of both the child and the therapist. For the safety and comfort of all concerned I am very happy to have a parent in the room, but I am careful to explain beforehand that generally I will be speaking to the child directly rather than about the child to the parent. This brings up another difference when treating children: parents and children may have different agendas regarding treatment goals and these may be either explicit or covert. For example, a child may feel perfectly happy just to improve classroom behaviour so as not to get into trouble at school whereas parents may feel that treatment has not been successful unless the child has stopped being difficult at home. It may be that such discrepancies need to be brought out into the open; how, when and where this is done will depend on individual circumstances.
When I speak to the parent initially, usually on the telephone, I explain that however young the child may be, it is important to set up the appointment so that the child wants to come. When children feel they are being dragged along against their will, they are unlikely to respond positively. I normally suggest that the parents say something along the lines of, ‘We’ve spoken to somebody who has helped lots of other children to stop sucking their thumbs (or whatever the presenting problem may be) and she thinks she could help you too, but only if you want her to help you. What do you think?’ This puts the onus of choice and responsibility on the child and lets the child know that you (the therapist) are on his or her side. In fact, when I first meet children I also check out that they really want me to help them, and it isn’t just their parents who think it’s a good idea. Normally, children are a bit surprised that I am asking and the interaction helps establish rapport.
Although it is important to sound confident about the likely success of treatment, words should be chosen carefully when talking to the child so as not to engender feelings of failure if the treatment doesn’t work as quickly as expected, or indeed occasionally, does not have an effect at all. It is good to be confident but also include various possibilities: ‘Usually children come to see me two or three times to sort out this kind of problem but everybody is different and you will do it in your own time and in your own way. Who knows, you might only need this one visit!’
It is important to explain the approach to parents before treatment begins and to gain their commitment to supporting the work to be done. This may mean practical support in terms of limiting drinks at bedtime in the case of nocturnal enuresis or it may mean more nuanced support in asking them to change the way they talk about the problem. A change of tense can be very significant; it can set the original problem firmly into the past and allow the possibility of change once the treatment has begun by simply learning to say, ‘He used to wet the bed nearly every night’ rather than, ‘He alwayswets the bed every night’. It is also wise to explain that, although change sometimes comes immediately, it can also happen gradually with the occasional setback if a child is tired or unwell. It is important that parents avoid making negative statements such as, ‘Oh, he‘s gone back to square one this week’ and instead describe the situation in a way that doesn’t defeat the child, such as, ‘There have been a few blips this week because he hasn’t been feeling well’. The most helpful thing parents can do is to acknowledge positive change wherever they notice it, and be supportive and not make an issue of it if there is little or no immediate change.
Summary: Things to do – Things to remember
To do:
Check out legal and safety procedures and requirements when working with children.Prepare some age-appropriate explanations of hypnosis.Gain parental support for your approach between sessions.Speak directly to the child rather than about the child during the session.Use the child’s own ideas.Remember:
Positive language is important.The session is more informal.Children show a willingness to use their imagination.The progress of the session can be extremely fast.Expect the unexpected.A Word About the Solution-FocusedApproach
The Brief Solution Focused Model of therapy was originated and developed in the 1980s by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg, Larry Hopwood and Scott Miller at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. Steve de Shazer published the model in Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy (1985) and Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy (1988). Here is not the place for a detailed discussion of the solution-focused approach but the interested reader will find a list of books and helpful websites at the end of the book. Suffice it to say that taking a generally forward-looking approach with children is very safe and will normally bring very positive results. In my opinion, general regression techniques are out of place with children except in special instances by those with very specific training and qualifications.
Basic Structure of a Solution-FocusedSession within a Hypnotic Framework
When you use the following structure, adapting it, leaving out parts and doubling back as appropriate, you will find that the therapy is already taking place as you ask the questions. You will be putting across to clients that change is possible/likely/inevitable so that they fill in the details of the achievement scenario in their own minds. By the time you come to the hypnotic script, you may merely be reinforcing a change already made or, at least, begun.
Find Out About the Problem
If the problem is embarrassing, such as bedwetting or soiling, it is better for you to mention it first in a matter-of-fact way so that it is easier for the child to talk about it. Ask parents beforehand how their young children refer to the problem and use their language where appropriate. Following are some examples of questions that appeal to different personalities, genders, ages or cultures.
Find Out What They Want To Achieve
As with adults, but perhaps particularly with children, it is important to wait to hear what a child has to say before making a hypothesis about cause and treatment. Listening actively will give you the required information and suggest a suitable strategy for the first treatment session.
More Detailed Questions about the AchievementScenario
Relationship Questions that Further Enrich theAchievement Scenario and Allow You to See theFamily’s Attitude and Reactions
Work through a good selection of these questions, making sure to include people the child has told you are important.
Ask questions that include a mix of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic modalities to ensure maximum appeal and involvement in all the senses.
Exception Questions
Exception questions are very important as they provide information about when, where or why a problem-behaviour does or does not occur already. Answers here will allow you to discover useful strengths, qualities or behaviours that the child already possesses or uses. If the child doesn’t provide answers, you can set a ‘noticing task’ for homework, for example, ‘What I’d like you to do over the next week is just to notice all the times when you manage to control your temper and come back and tell me about them next week. Will you do that?’ Not only are you giving the child a positive ‘noticing task’, you are also offering an implicit suggestion that there will indeed be times when he or she manages to carry out the desired behaviour.
Scaling Questions
You can scale any kind of behaviour, thought or emotion and this gives you useful initial information. It can also mark the progress in the next session: ‘Last week you were at 9, where are you now?’ It can allow all kinds of other questions to be used that help move the patient forward such as, ‘If you are at 5 now, and at 10 you wouldn’t be nervous at all, what would be different if you were at 7?’ This question breaks down the goal into smaller steps that may be more realistic and more manageable. You can use prediction questions such as, ‘Brilliant! You’ve gone from 3 to 5 in a week! What number do you think you are going to be on next week when you come back to see me? Oh, great. You’ll be at 6 and a half. What will you be doing differently when you are at 6 and a half?’
You can use scaling with much younger children too; you can draw a hill on a flipchart or page and give them the pen to show you how far up the hill they will be next time they see you. You can simply get them to show you with their hands how high or low they will be or have them build a tower of bricks. You can use your imagination to think of other examples but best of all, you can use theirs. They are likely to be even more imaginative than you are and the whole interaction becomes an enjoyable game in which they are already stretching or breaking through their comfort zones.
‘Anything Else?’ Question
Before moving on to any hypnotic intervention, it is useful to ask one of the questions below. It is sometimes the answer to this question that yields the most enlightening piece of the jigsaw puzzle, the one that helps you to conclude the therapy successfully.
Hypnotic Intervention of Your Choice
Example of an intervention suitable for almost any treatment session
Set a Suitable Homework Activity
Why Give Homework Activities?
Giving homework activities can help in several different ways; it speeds up the rate of progress and it helps children understand that the responsibility for change also lies with them and not wholly with you. ‘Noticing activities’ can uncover previously unrecognised critical information as in the case of one little boy who discovered that whenever his mother put him to bed he wet the bed, but when his father did it he was nearly always dry. It came out that there were difficulties in the marriage and the child felt more secure when the father was a part of the bedtime routine. Sometimes the suggestion to ‘notice what happens with your dad/teacher/sister when you try something different’ places the focus on the fun of noticing other people’s responses to the new behaviour, thus bypassing resistance to the new behaviour itself.
Positive visualisation can bring about seemingly miraculous improvement and restricting it to 2 minutes at bedtime will usually ensure that it is carried out. Sometimes asking children to devise their own homework can encourage identification with the exercises and increase their commitment to engaging in the activity.
I find that giving the child a recording of the hypnotic part of the session can be invaluable if the intervention is suitable for repeated listening as is, for example, the case with guided visualisation of the desired behaviour and ego boosting. If you do not have recording facilities, consider providing or recommending a published CD. The ones I have recorded for children are available on my website.* The provision of a CD is a particularly good idea when the child in question would greatly benefit from relaxation and relief from tension but finds it difficult to relax in the session. Listening to the CD at bedtime when the child is beginning to wind down anyway can accustom him or her to the process of relaxing and developing a day-dreamy state. The state may then be easier to replicate in subsequent sessions with you.
Supportive Message
A very effective strategy to use with children who need quite a lot of support, or when there are going to be extended gaps between visits, is to send an email or letter outlining or reminding them of a homework activity or offering a supportive message. We all like to receive mail and children are particularly delighted with it. A card simply saying how brilliantly a child responded in the session can work wonders for rapport and willingness to engage fully in the treatment next time.
EARS procedure
Use this structure for the second appointment and any subsequent appointments.
Elicit
‘What’s better/different from before?’Go through the different days.Amplify
Flag changes verbally and non-verbally.Use questions to expand on how change occurred, e.g., ‘Great! Did that surprise you/your mum/your sister?’‘So, how did you feel that morning?’‘What difference did that make to your day?’‘What else was different? How did that help you?’Restate
‘So, you woke up and the dry bed was the first thing you noticed?’‘So, you got up, went to the bathroom and suddenly realised that your bed was dry! How did you feel about that?/That must have felt great, didn’t it?’Start again
‘What else has been different? How many other ways has this made your life different?’Use your chosen hypnotic script or intervention. Always include some kind of ego strengthening and congratulations for progress, however little it may have been.
* www.firstwayforward.com
Chapter Two
Inductions
Considerations When Choosing or WritingScripts for Young People
When choosing or writing a script it is important to bear in mind the age of the child with whom you are working. It is also important to remember that chronological age is not necessarily an indicator of emotional maturity. If you choose something that is too young for an adolescent, for example, you not only risk losing the young client’s interest, you risk alienating him or her altogether. Interestingly, these older clients will often respond enthusiastically to ideas that you originally conceived for younger children once you have won them over, but on a first occasion it is really crucial to try to strike the right note. For the 12 to 15-year-old age bracket, it is better to err on the side of overestimating rather than underestimating the client’s maturity if there is any doubt.
The comments from Jack, nearly 10 years old and Tom, 7 years old, illustrate how important it is to ‘get it right’ for the age group. I was trialling one of my pre-publication CDs with them: Tom described it as ‘Stupid and boring!’ whereas his brother, Jack, responded with, ‘Brilliant. Spot on!’ More trialling confirmed that the suitable age group for the particular CD was 10–14!
In the writing of this book, every time I find myself thinking of making some general statement, an example instantly springs to mind that contradicts what I was about to say. This in itself underscores the fact that when you work with children you need to be constantly on your toes and prepared to move from one approach to another even in mid-flow! Still, generally speaking I would say that the younger children are, the shorter the script should be (10 to 15 minutes maximum). The best approach with really young ones is just to tell them a metaphorical story with embedded suggestions for the desired outcome. You can simply begin with suggestions for settling down and getting comfy. The more interactive the story, the better:
‘Imagine you are just going to go into a magic garden. Does it have agate? (Yes) What colour is it? (Blue) Are there flowers in your garden,Katie? (Big red ones) I see, so you’ve just pushed open the little blue gateand you can see the big red flowers in front of you … Are they the biggest,brightest, reddest flowers you’ve ever seen? Fantastic! Now, notice howspringy the grass is under your feet.’
Whatever the age, just using the child’s name has a very powerful effect, particularly if you have recorded the session or the script to listen to again at home. Children often tell me how much they enjoy hearing their name used.
I have found that the older children are the more patience they have with the idea of a typical relaxing induction; on the other hand, the younger the children the more you need to engage their imagination right away. There is no need to be concerned when young children move around and keep their eyes open: the goal is to get them imaginatively involved rather than to have them deeply relaxed. Having said that, there have been occasions when I have had very young children of 4 or 5 years old relax so deeply that they have drifted off to sleep. Incidentally, if that should happen, always ask a parent to be the one to rouse the child so that he or she is not completely disoriented upon waking.
Over the years I have noticed that girls and boys tend to have different preferences and different responses to approaches. I find that boys may wriggle about more than girls, and they tend to be more interested in the practical and technical side of things. Of course, some girls love to imagine themselves on a football field and some boys love the feeling of snuggling up all comfy and cosy on the settee, so the best advice is to listen carefully to their answers to your questions. In other words, always respond very directly to the child in front of you.
Summary
Age affects:
understanding of concepts.understanding of specific vocabulary.ability to listen for a long time.interest.ability to relax.need to wriggle about.willingness to close eyes.Gender may affect:
physical presentation.the prevalence of presenting problems.interest in different topics.Inductions for Different Age Groups
Nearly all of the following inductions can be used equally well as deepeners, but remember that mental engagement rather than depth of trance is the objective with younger children. The use of more than one induction or deepener might be too challenging/testing for very young, short attention spans and so be counter-productive. The best advice is to be prepared for some trial and error, accompanied by acute observation and flexibility, and even then to remember how much children vary in individual likes and dislikes.
You can see examples elsewhere in the book of how some of the following inductions can be used to lead into complete scripts dealing with specific problems. All ages given are approximate and scripts can and should be adapted as necessary.
To avoid misunderstanding by child or parent I suggest using verbal rather than tactile inductions unless you are a medical practitioner or a therapist who uses touch as part of your main therapy, such as in physiotherapy. This is not to say that tactile inductions do not work well because they can be amazingly good ways to induce trance, but they can also be open to misinterpretation. If you do use them, be certain to explain in advance to both parents and children that you may lift their hand or arm, or touch their forehead. These gestures should only be done with a parent present in the room. Given this caution, I have included only one script that has reference to lifting a child’s arm and letting it drop.
Induction Script: Resting story
Age range: approximately 5–7 years
This is your very own resting story … I wonder if you know how to rest, really rest I mean? … I wonder if you could pretend that you are really resting so well that if someone were to look at you they would think you are nearly asleep … I wonder if your arms are all floppy … and if your legs are all floppy …
Continue with hands, feet, eyelids, etc., using as many or as few suggestions as needed.
It’s good to feel drowsy/sleepy and comfy as you snuggle down while you daydream … or even night dream … because we all like to dream andfeel safe and feel comfy and even a bit sleepy … and I wonder where you first begin tofeel that gentle warm, comfortable sleepy feeling spreading around your body … does it start at the top of your head and go all the way down your body, down to the very tips of your toes? … or, is it the other way around, do your feet get warmer first and then let the comfy feelings spread all the way up to the top of your head? … Or does it seem to spread out from the middle of yourtummy? … so you feel comfy on the inside, comfy on the outside, inside out… and comfy all over all the way through, that’s right, that’s wonderful … So I think now you are really ready to hear your resting story.
Variation on a theme: Pretend to be asleep
Relaxing is a bit like pretending to be asleep. Can you pretend? … Let’s see if you can pretend so well that you really look as if you are asleep right now … Pretend that youare so sleepy your whole arm has become really heavy andfloppy … Pretend that your arm is so heavy that if I pick it up and let it go … itwill just flop down completely just as if you are fast asleep right now.
Continue with legs, hands, etc., as necessary. You can omit the lifting and dropping of the arm if you prefer.
Induction Script: Talk to teddy
Age range: approximately 5–6 years
Use any toy/doll/teddy and talk to them instead of the child, including embedded suggestions as you talk.
I’m so glad (Child’s Name) that you brought teddy along with you today because teddies are usually brilliant at relaxing … shall we see how well your teddy can relaxright now? … So … teddy, can you let one of your arms goreally floppy now … just as if your arm isasleep … that’s amazing teddy … really heavy and floppy … and how about your other arm? Can you let that onego all floppy too? … almost as if your arms are tooheavy and sleepy to move … hey, you’re wonderful at doing this … and what about your legs … I bet your legs will feel even heavier than your arms when you let them goall floppy andtired too … and teddy do you think that (Child’s Name) can let his/her body go floppier than yours and be really, really still or do you think that you are the best … you are so floppy that if anybody looked at you they would think you are fast,fast asleep … brilliant … you are both fantastic at this.
Variation on a theme: Ask the child to teach teddy how to relax
I think (Child’s Name) that you could show teddy how to relax today because mummy tells me that you are brilliant at relaxing when you go to bed … shall we see how well your teddy can relaxright now? … Will you show him how to do it a little bit at a time? … Show him how to let one of his arms go really floppy … that’s it … is his arm as floppy as yours? … Great … now show him how to relax his other arm and see if he can be nearly as good as you.
Continue in this way until you get the degree of relaxation that you arelooking for.
Induction Script: Swinging hammock
Age range: approximately 6–10 years
Make sure that the child understands the meaning of the word ‘ham-mock’ or show a picture first.
Make yourself (Child’s Name) nice and comfy in the chair because you’ll want to feel verycomfortable while you listen and let your mind drift off to the placewhere you like todaydream and, later night dream … a nice, happy place where you can feel very, very comfortable … comfortable in yourself, comfortable about yourself in every way.
Is that place somewhere you know? … Somewhere you’ve been or just somewhere happy and calm inside you? … And it’s good to feel (drowsy and) comfyas you settle down… while you daydream … because we all like to dreamandfeel safe … and feel comfy and even a bit sleepy … and I wonder where you first begin to feel that gentle warm, comfortable sleepy feeling spreading around your body? … Is it in your feet and your toes? … Or is it in your hands and your fingers? … Is it in your lower legs or your upper legs? … Wherever it is, you can just enjoy feeling so comfy now … feeling even comfy enough to imagine that you are in a hammock … imagining your body swinging gently backwards and forwards, just melting into relaxation … backwards and forwards … that’s right … (Child’s Name) melting into relaxation.
And you know what a hammock is like … it’s made of rope and very strong net so that as you swing, you know you are very, very safe … your body swinging gently backwards and forwards, just melting into relaxation … backwards and forwards … that’s right … and as you swing, any old tight unwanted feelingsjust drift away and out through the holes in the netting of the hammock … yourbody is getting more and more comfy, more and more relaxed and calm … any old worries … you can just breathe them away … and they too just disappear through the holes in the hammock … so you can feel completely calm andcomfortable … that’s right, just breathe them away now.
Induction Script: Your mind shows your body how to get heavier
Age range: approximately 12 years upward
This is a useful kinaesthetic introduction to any script that includes the idea of the mind taking unconscious control of the body, as in cases when the goal is to stop nail biting or thumb sucking, for example.
Make yourself comfortable and allow your eyes to close … and as you sit there, (Child’s Name) just listening to the sound of my voice … and letting all the muscles of your body relax … becoming really aware of just how powerful your mind really is … I’m wondering if you know you can use your mind toshow your body what to do? … Just say to yourself mentally and silently, really meaning it, my left arm is getting heavier and heavier … and then notice how your arm follows your thought and begins to feel heavier and heavier all on itsown … that’s right … now try it with your right arm, say to yourself … my rightarm is getting heavier and heavier… and then notice how that arm is gettingheavier and heavier … more and more comfortable … isn’t that interesting how your own mind can direct your body? … Now try it with your left leg and find it getting heavier and heavier too, getting heavier and heavier … that’s right … now try it with your right leg and find it too getting heavier and heavier, getting heavier and heavier … that’s right, brilliant … and you can continue doing this with each word I speak and with each breath you take … becoming more and more relaxed … feeling more and more comfortable … feeling more and more relaxed … even more comfortable than before … that’s right, that’s brilliant. And in this comfortable slightly dreamy state, I want to talk to you (Child’s Name) about your mind … which is so incredibly clever … we all have a very special part of our mind and we call this part your special … inner … mind … this is the part of the mind that controls all the things your body does automatically like breathing, for example … without your ever having to tell it to do it for you … even when you are fast asleep you breathe easily and well … and this inside part of your mind is always looking after you … wherever you are.
Induction Script: Relax and catch the numbers
Age range: approximately 12 years upward
And as you sit there and listen to the sound of my voice … maybe you (Child’s Name) can focus your eyes on that light switch over there … instead of looking at me or getting distracted by the stuff in the room … you are in completecontrol of whether you choose to stay looking at that light switch … If at this point the child chooses to keep eyes open, you have given him or her something on which to focus attention rather than having him or her look directly at you or being distracted by other things in the room. or whether you want to allow your eyes to close whenever theyfeel like closing … whenever they feel like it will be absolutely fine … I want you to know there’s no right way to do this … and there’s no wrong way … whichever way you do it, will be perfect for you.
You are removing any possible worries about ‘having to get it right’.
Some people just like to increase their focus … and other people like to relax … some people like to relax a little … and some people like to relax a lot … and some people like to relax a little and then relax a lot… whatever you do, will beperfect for you … and as you think about it and
