What Pediatric Hypnosis Is — When Imagination Becomes an Instrument of Care

Parents often ask, with real concern, whether children can be hypnotized at all — and whether it is safe for someone so young.

The answer may surprise you. Not only is pediatric hypnosis possible; many children respond to it more readily than adults do.

Why children respond more readily than adults

Medical research agrees on this. Children under fourteen tend to be highly responsive to hypnosis, and many studies find response rates clearly above those in adults. Even among adolescents between fourteen and twenty, close to 90% can enter a hypnotic state — distinctly higher than the proportion among adults generally.

The reason is interesting. Unlike adults, who usually carry settled frames of thought and judgment standing between reality and imagination, children have far less of that wall. The line between the imaginative world and the real one is much thinner. It is why children can play make-believe wholeheartedly: they believe a story completely, and enter a state of absorbed imagination far more easily than an adult can.

This responsiveness becomes clear around five or six years of age, generally peaking between seven and fourteen, before easing gradually into adulthood as analytical thinking develops.

The research on hypnosis with children is varied. A randomized study of children aged five to fifteen undergoing bone-marrow aspiration found that those receiving hypnosis reported clearly less pain than before treatment and than the control group. Even among small children of three to six, whose own reports of pain did not differ, external observers found those who received hypnosis showed noticeably less pain and anxiety.

For the pain of lumbar puncture, a study of thirty children found that both direct and indirect hypnotic suggestion significantly reduced pain, anxiety and distress.

For children with gastrointestinal difficulties, gut-directed hypnotherapy shows results as good as in adults, with research and long-term follow-up showing significant reductions in the severity and frequency of abdominal pain.

Beyond pain, the evidence extends to managing anxiety, habit difficulties, sleep quality, and easing symptoms in some chronic illnesses such as cancer and cystic fibrosis.

How pediatric hypnosis works

What sets it apart from work with adults is how the state is reached. Rather than direct instruction, a practitioner usually begins by asking a child about their favorite place or activity, then invites them to imagine themselves there, happily — building a snowman for a small child, perhaps, or skiing for a teenager.

With older children, from around nine to fifteen, the techniques are closer to those used with adults: slow deep breathing with progressive muscular release. With younger children, if breathing and relaxation hold no particular interest, the practitioner simply invites them to imagine travelling to the place they love, without any elaborate steps.

Parents may be reassured on one point: no one can be hypnotized against their own intention. If a suggestion does not accord with a child’s goals or values, it will not take. This is the same principle as with adults. A child does not lose consciousness, does not lose control, and can open their eyes or speak with the practitioner at any time.

For children under sixteen, we recommend a parent remain present during the session, for the confidence and safety of both child and family.

At NBRH we work with children from ten years of age, since the process asks a child to cooperate enough to lie still throughout a session. That said, a younger child who is settled and able to lie still can be seen as well.

Sessions with children are usually shorter than with adults — thirty-five to forty minutes is generally enough, because children enter the state quickly and respond to suggestion more naturally.

The imagination a child has in abundance is not merely charming innocence. It is a powerful instrument, one that can help a child through pain, fear and certain of life’s difficulties — gently, and in a way that suits their age.

To understand how imagery works in the brain, see “The Brain Does Not Know the Difference Between Doing and Imagining”.