Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Treating the challenging child today requires a different approach to behavioral guidance.1 The ultimate goal of behavior guidance is to prevent misbehavior before it happens, and hypnosis can be a valuable tool in facilitating positive behavioral change in children.Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness in which the ability to accept suggestions is enhanced.Pediatric dentistry poses a unique challenge in persuading children to willingly receive treatment.It is no longer surprising that hypnosis is used for persuasion or convincing.Persuasion becomes much easier when the subjects have no idea that you are doing it.Conversational hypnosis, also referred to as covert hypnosis (CH), is a subtle communication technique that discreetly directs a person's subconscious mind, encouraging them to take specific actions without realizing it.2,3 The history of CH primarily reflects the contributions of the late psychiatric genius Milton H Erickson. 4,5 Asking a young child to close his eyes, sit quietly, and imagine something internally is rarely successful in a dental setting.Suggestions that ask a child to pretend to dream or imagine that they are dreaming are too cognitively complex.6 The most effective way of hypnosis is through words and patterns usually carried out in conversation.CH makes use of tried-and-tested hypnotic principles to give words and ideas extra energy and power.7 As you put these principles into practice, every interaction with the child becomes an opportunity to connect with the subconscious mind.CH is effective when thoughts, words, body language, and tone of voice are all in sync.8,9 Conversational hypnosis is persuasion to accept a suggestion.This case scenario demonstrates the application of CH in an 8-year-old boy in a highly practical manner, focusing on the use of hypnotic communication skills and pediatric hypnotic strategies to enable him to cope, cooperate, and feel better. case scenarIoAn 8-year-old boy, new to dental care, exhibited significant anxiety and required treatment for pain in an upper deciduous molar.He
Authors: Anup K Panda, Padmanabhan M Yuvaraj, Ashwin Rao
Language: English
Subfield: Oral Surgery
Field: Dentistry
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4412920016