F. Ralph Berberich

The Scope of Pediatric Suggestions

The word suggestion carries two intentional meanings. My primary goal is to provide parents and patients with practical solutions to child rearing problems. The setting and time allotted can supplement whatever advice has already been conveyed by the child´s pediatrician. I do not provide psychotherapy, medication, or delve into areas outside the scope of general pediatric practice.

The other meaning of the word suggestion addresses the power of words to lead the listener in a certain chosen direction. When absorbed unconsciously, such as while a person is in hypnotic trance, words can be powerful motivators that help children accomplish what they would like to do. Also, even when children are not in hypnotic trance, appropriately chosen words can help parents better guide their children and reduce potential conflict.

Sessions with me may therefore involve a child only, a parent or set of parents only, or parents together with their child. Hypnosis and the utilization of trance may be formal or informally embedded within what appears to be a simple conversation.

Children motivated to engage in formal hypnosis almost always learn a valuable skill. The impact of this skill on whatever problem is presented can vary with the motivation of the child and any factor that interferes with the hypnotic process.

♦ Practical advice regarding child rearing and health issues
♦ Complex pediatric medical problems
♦ Hypnosis and Alert Suggestions for
        • fears, phobias
        • anxiety/stress
        • habits and tics
        • abdominal pain
        • headaches
        • sleep issues
        • bed-wetting/stool-holding

For patients

For parents

Understanding Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a method of tapping into your child's patterns of concentration to facilitate treatment of certain problems. There is nothing magic or mysterious about it. Children are naturally so often in hypnosis that as you become more aware of that state, you will realize that you use it every day when interacting with them. To be in hypnosis is to be in a trance, a state of consciousness in which a minute can seem like an hour or an hour like a minute. It is the state of mind in which a child may be watching television, listening to music, playing with a toy or video game and you ask him to do something or call him to dinner and he later says that he heard nothing and had no idea someone was talking to him. It is the state of mind where the imagination can transport someone to another mental place or another mental time. In hypnosis, we suspend some our self awareness and lose ourselves in a task or a dream, but we are not asleep and can leave that state of mind any time we wish.

During hypnosis, our subconscious is more open to suggestions that can increase the success of whatever we want to do. Despite anything you have seen in stage "hypnosis", all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, and the facilitator cannot make someone do anything he or she does not wish to do! The facilitator simply helps a willing person reach that state of being and plants the suggestions that are in keeping with the child's goal. The child in hypnosis can talk, open and close his or her eyes, and stop the hypnosis at any time. Therefore we like to talk about being "in hypnosis" rather than "being hypnotized" (by someone else). The aim is to teach the child how to enter the hypnotic state of mind on his or her own in order to treat a problem he or she wishes to change. Because it is an acquired skill, hypnosis may take time to learn, must be practiced, and usually requires periodic update visits for reinforcement.

Once again, the person conducting the hypnosis holds no power over the person entering the trance state. The more the person conducting the hypnosis knows about his or her patient, the easier it is to help induce the hypnotic state and the easier it may be to incorporate successful and appropriate suggestions in the treatment session. If the child does not want to experience hypnosis or resists the process, it does not occur. What I do to reach this state also varies with the age of the child, being more playful and perhaps comic or distracting with the younger child, or more verbal and imaginative with the older child. There is also much trial and error here as each patient is an individual with his or her own particular set of skills and interests. And there is homework, especially for the older child who will be encouraged to enter the hypnotic state by him- or herself often, outside the doctor's office, and on a regular basis.

Hypnosis can be a powerful tool and one of fun and interest to the child. Most importantly, it is a tool of self-mastery, one that is entirely portable and requires no instruments or pills to be effective. Helping a child with anxiety, a bed-wetting problem, or a fear, is fulfilling for all involved, but especially for the child who has learned to do it on his or her own.

I have spent over 25 years in clinical pediatric practice and am a founding partner of the Pediatric Medical Group in Berkeley, California. I am on staff at Children's Hospital Oakland and the Alta Bates Medical Center, where I have previously served as Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics. My interest in pediatric hypnosis is long standing, but has recently become the focus of my approach to pediatric care. I am a member of both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, through which I am accredited. I have co-authored The Available Pediatrician and have also written Hit Below the Belt, a book about prostate cancer.

Over the past years, I have become increasingly reluctant to reach for medication as the answer to all pediatric disorders. Workshops in pediatric hypnosis have made clear the impact of conscious and subconscious mental processes on a variety of common conditions affecting children and adolescents. The workshops have also pointed out the innate suggestibility of kids as reflected in their fantasy play, their ability to day dream and their knack for tuning out unpleasant intrusions. Their hypnosis talent can be harnessed to address a variety of issues as well as to enhance the general mastery that children so eagerly seek to acquire. This is because when they are in hypnotic trance, children and adolescents are particularly open to suggestions they hear subconsciously, and these register an impact that can be greater than that of simple directions or parental teaching.

Hypnosis is a process and a learned skill, one that can be applied well into and throughout adulthood. It is not necessarily a quick fix and never imposed on the child. Rather, it requires the youngster's continuing motivation and active participation, as well as ongoing practice. Alert suggestion is a pediatric cousin to formal hypnosis. Younger children are offered verbal suggestions during periods of play and conversations that engage their imagination. During these activities they may be in and out of hypnotic trance states.