ABSTRACT
Childhood habit problems potentially responsive to hypnotherapy include habitual coughs (or so-called cough tics), enuresis, thumbsucking, fecal soiling, nail biting, hair pulling, verbal dysfluencies, sleepwalking and related parasomnias, certain eating disorders, and drug abuse. Although many habits may at one time have had emotional significance for the child, often the habit has long lost its original meaning and become functionally autonomous by the time the child is referred for treatment. Sometimes habits seem to develop without any identifiable underlying emotional significance or antecedent trigger and are perpetuated simply by repetition in association with certain situations. In this way they behave for all intents and purposes like conditioned responses. As discussed further in this chapter, these understandings are not only important but also may well be critical to discuss and explain as such to patients and families as part of the therapeutic education and communication process before moving into applying hypnotherapeutic strategies. As in many situations, often such education provides comfort in context and may in itself alleviate negative parental (and child) expectations and fears that may have been inadvertently perpetuating the habituated behavior.
