Fussy eaters are created, not born

Fussy eaters can be a problem. Kids are always making comments on their food and declaring that they don't like this or they don't like that, but by the next time they see that food they have forgotten all about it. Except where an overanxious mother feels she needs to try to please the child all the time. The basic anxiety in this situation is the mother's fear that the child will not love her if she forces the child to eat something. The child then uses food to start controlling the mother. Then a tussle of wills begins with the child always the winner.

Most mothers recognize this behavior for what it is and distract the child and the matter is forgotten. Some mothers go in for the 'you will eat this or won't leave the table till you do!' style of management and set the child up for eating disorders in adulthood.

And some mothers give in to every demand, and then reinforce it by constantly reminding the child 'Oh you don't like beans do you?' The mother tells anyone who will listen 'No, he can't eat ...' whatever it is. This sets up a reinforcing cycle in which the child is brainwashed into believing that they can't eat certain foods and so they don't get offered them, so they don't eat them and so on. In one reported case the child would only eat orange juice and crackers.

Satisfying fussy eaters

The solution is to work on the child's psychology. A good approach is to use every child's belief in magic to convince the fussy eater that they can eat something new. Hypnotize the child and tell them a story about a boy who ate a special soup. Describe the magic soup as being some particular color, or having some noticeable ingredient like corn kernels. Then get the mother to make a soup that matches the description of the magic soup.This gets the child eating whatever it is that is missing for their health. The hypnotist can suggest that once the boy drank the soup he was able to eat anything at all.

Then the mother can reinforce the idea of the magic soup to empower the child to try new things. As soon as the child has tried a new food the mother can use this to give the child a unique sense of importance.

Ask the expert what to do

When I am working with a client, I am often not sure what to do next. Clients come to me with all sorts of problems, and expect me to know how to fix them. Quite often I don't know. Over the years I have come to realise that there are two sources you can go to for help. They both involve asking the expert. So who is this expert? Actually there are two. One is your own unconscious mind, and the other is the client.

Asking the expert - the client

Always bear in mind that the client comes to for a reason, and knows exactly what they want, even if you don't. And the client is the expert. Nobody knows more about their problem than they do. So I ask the expert what to do.

The way I do this is to use the equivalent of the My Friend John induction as hypnotherapy.

I ask the client to tell me what they would do if they were in my seat.

I ask them 'How would you go about dealing with this problem?'. 'What would you able to try to make you feel better?'. 'How could the situation be seen differently if you took different perspectives?'

You can also ask the client the Miracle Question 'If everything you wanted happened to you overnight, what would be different when you woke up? What would see, what would you feel, how would you know that it had happened?'.

You will be surprised at how inventive your client can be. Even if they don't come up with a complete solution, they will often suggest a way forward that you haven't thought of.

Ask the expert - Your own subconscious

The other expert is you. At least the part of you that holds all your expertise and intuition. Part of hypnotherapy professional practice is being comfortable with ambiguity, and uncertainty. Therapists don't have all the answers. You sometimes have to wing it. And that is exactly what I do.

I listen to the client describe what they want, what they feel, what they have tried. Even if I'm not aware of it, my unconscious mind is thinking about this and assessing various possibilities. As the client talks, various words and phrases will strike you as being of particular interest and importance. When I consider how to go about the therapy part, I read over my notes. And I take a moment to think about those words and phrases. This primes my unconscious mind, and sets up images and associations at the unconscious level.

Then I start on the induction. I guide the client into trance, deepen, and test to make sure the client is somnambulistic. I find that by the time I put the client into trance, there is always something that occurs to me as a way forward. Something will suggest itself to me from the workings of my unconscious mind. It may be an image, and I was start describing the image. Usually this turns into a metaphor that I develop for the client. Sometimes I would just repeat the word or phrase, and again something will resonate with me and my unconscious mind will guide me in what to do.

It's always good to ask the expert in the room.

Hypnotherapy pain relief – peer-reviewed research

Modern hypnosis has its origin in medical research. One of its first uses was hypnotherapy pain relief. However there is still considerable resistance in medical circles to accepting hypnotherapy as a valid technique.

Hypnotherapy pain relief is beginning to be accepted a valid therapy more and more in mainstream medicine. A recent research study at the University of Queensland goes some way towards showing that the benefits of hypnotherapy for pain relief are very real.

The University of Queensland's Child Health Research Centre carried out an investigation into the effect of hypnotherapy on anxiety, pain and stress. The research objective was to test whether hypnotherapy had a measurable effect on the distress of burns patients.

The trial

The patients were children with extensive burns, who had to have their dressings changed frequently. Changing burns dressings is often very painful. Children who know that their dressings are going to be changed soon often show raised levels of anxiety and stress.

There is some evidence to suggest that the pain and anxiety can manifest itself in later life as PTSD and other psychological problems. Anything that can reduce the stress and anxiety of the hospital treatment can have long-term benefits.

The study involved 62 burns patients aged between four and 16 years old. Half the group had hypnotherapy, half the group had standard burns care. Anxiety, pain, stress and wound healing were measured at each change of dressing.

The results

The results were very clear. At the second change of dressing, children in the hypnotherapy group reported a reduction of 70% in their pain levels compared with children in the standard group. The hypnotherapy group also had only one third of the stress levels of the other group. At the third change of dressing the results were even more dramatic. The hypnotherapy children had a 90% reduction in pain, and 84% less anxiety.

The pain and stress levels were estimated by asking the child how they felt. But this was backed up by heart rate monitors. The hypnotherapy children has significantly lower pulse rates before and after the third dressing. Pulse rate gives an objective method of measuring pain and stress.

Hypnotherapy has been used on adult burns patients before. Children and teenagers usually show much stronger responses to hypnosis. This research has confirmed that.

The medical benefits of hypnotherapy could be used in other areas of children's medicine. Children get very anxious when treated for asthma and fractures, and when approached with a needle. Hypnotherapy might prove very effective in all these areas.

Source: Chester et al. 2016 Trials 17:233

DOI: 10.1186/s13063-016-1346-9

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