A young child’s mind is completely sub-conscious. What a child is told is truth to the sub-conscious. It has no analytical ability.

A baby is born with two fears, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Everything else is learned. It is learned through identification and association.

A child grabs the family kitten, and it scratches him or her. The child decides the kitten is bad. Another child grabs the family kitten, but this kitten is very loving, gentle and it purrs. This child develops a positive identification with the kitten. This is an imprint. As a baby acquires a context of these associations and identifications, his experiences lead him to decide that certain things are good and certain things are bad.

Something positive to one child may be a negative to another child. As the child grows, the child develops thousands of negative and positives and that forms what we call our life scripting.

So what is learned is different for different people based on our identifications and associations.

Somewhere between ages eight and twelve, the critical mind begins to form and the child begins to use logic and reason. The critical part of the mind acts like a filter and begins to accept what is known and rejects what is unknown to them. But that filter is not very strong yet.

The sub-conscious part of the mind does not analyze. It simply associates and identifies. The sub-conscious handles all automatic functions, our expectations and our imagination.

A child’s imagination serves a very useful function and children delight in fantasy. They love to pretend and daydream. They may use fantasy in creative and inventive activities or to modify an unpleasant situation, or gratify unmet needs or new achievements.

Fantasies are evident in countless fairy tales and stories. The development of imagination in the thinking process of children is a very important part of a child’s development.

As the child grows and critical mind becomes stronger, the child may consciously know that something is not true, but since the sub-conscious does not have logic or analytical ability, the sub-conscious believes that it is true.

There is a valid concern that the images provided by television have a negative affect on childhood development and that violent images may impact negatively on a young child’s value system. Part of the damage of television may be that it steals from spontaneous, creative imagining time for children and adolescents.

Another danger is that the child becomes desensitized to violence so that it no longer upsets them. They are no longer shocked by it. It becomes a known to the subconscious mind.

In our work, we recognize that we are helping children who happen to have problems. We emphasize specific techniques that enhance and strengthen the child’s positive abilities. Induction techniques are selected partly on the basis of developmental stage and learning style of each child. Hypnotherapy is conducted in the context of a safe comfortable environment. Children are very receptive to being helped. Some of the areas that hypnotherapy is effective with children is:

    * Eating and sleeping patterns.
    * Improvement in relationship with others as well as adults.
    * Improvement in exam anxiety.
    * Improvement in behavior both at home and at school.
    * The ability to concentrate and pay attention.
    * More active participation in play and group activities, as well as classroom learning.
    * A reduction in the levels of irritability.
    * Reduction in hostile and unsociable behavior.
    * Bedwetting.
    * Biting nails.

Call for appointment 770-928-0394