ABSTRACT
Hypnosis is taught to children in many Western or developed countries, and developing countries, due to a general lack of medications, are initiating training programs to address the huge need for nonpharmacological pain management. Ninety percent of children born in 2009 were born into third-world countries, where both infant and under-five mortality is high and where children are at greater risk for diseases or accidents involving pain or painful procedures. These include conditions such as sickle cell disease (Africa), thalassemia (South East Asia), injuries, burns, male and female circumcision, toothaches, and many painful infectious diseases. Some children will experience childhood cancer and the pain associated with the disease, as well as diagnostic and treatment procedures. As a result of inadequate pain management, untold numbers of children and the adults they have become experience posttraumatic stress symptoms related to their experience of severe pain. Many children in the developing world will suffer early and permanent brain injury from malnutrition, iron deficiency, infectious diseases, alcohol use during pregnancy, or exposure to toxins such as lead or organophosphates (Olness, 2003). This often leads to learning disabilities that complicate training in hypnosis.
