BEDWETTING

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Permalink Reply by Pete & Lorraine on April 6, 2010 at 1:11am

Hi Marianne
One of my friends also a hypnotherapist told me of working with a young lad with the same problem only it was every night. As kids already have good imagination what you can do is get some coloured pencils, crayons or felt tips and some paper. draw a head and body see if they can describe what happens or why they think it happens. describe in simple terms that the bladder sends a signal to the brain, He got the lad to get something or someone to protect him some guards to stop anything happening until he got up or went to the toilet. The lad came up with Daleks from Doctor Who they stayed by the bladder, after which he wet the bed a couple of times and finally stopped all together. You could get the boy to come up with the solution and get him to imagine it working.
Hope this helps

Pete

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Permalink Reply by Brett Cameron on April 6, 2010 at 1:15am

Hi Marianne,
The thread below is something that I posted last month in the Children's Group regarding this subject. Have a look at that one and see if anything can help. Also can I suggest that you type 'bedwetting' into the discussion page and check out the archives. There is invaluable information there.

http://www.hypnothoughts.com/group/hypnosisandkids/forum/topics/bed...

I have an 8 yr old client who in 2 sessions is no longer a bed wetter. I hope the above helps.

cheers
Brett
www.channelled.com.au

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Permalink Reply by Dan Elliott on April 6, 2010 at 2:56am

Hi Marianne

Personally I'd have no issue with a child of 5 still wetting the bed. Still, if it's a concern what I do is work with the parent or guardian. I'd also demand some form of medical confirmation that the child has no physiological issues before proceeding.

What I do first of all is to educate the parent. I let them know how very natural and simple the hypnotic state is. I then teach them to utilise the hypnagogic state experienced by the child as they drift off to sleep. This state, as we know, is a perfect state of mind in which to be offered suggestions.

So, ideally, we have the parent read a the child a bedtime story. As the eyelids flutter, the breathing rate changes slightly, and the child begins to drift off, I have them offer the child a suggestion. It is in fact a hypnotic suggestion.

It is important that the suggestion contains no negatives. For instance, we do not say "Do not wet the bed tonight". It is believed by many that the subconscious mind cannot easily process negatives such as "not". Therefore, a superior suggestion would be something akin to "It would be so good ... to wake up with a dry bed ... in the morning".

This works. I wish you well.

Dan Elliott.

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Permalink Reply by Susan French on April 6, 2010 at 5:58am

I have to agree with Dan, being a child who wet the bed until much later than that, the pressure and haranguing and harassment made it worse. As an adult I learned that bed-wetting at five is considered normal...though the biggest PIA (pain in the ass, for parents and for children).

I like to educate myself before I tackle something I'm not familiar with. The first thing I would do is find out what the general medical and child development ideas are about what age bed-wetting is considered delayed development.

I'd also make sure that the parents have found out what the pediatrician has suggested, what his/her take on normal ranges, and if there is any physiological dysfunction.

I havent' personally dealt with a bedwetting child but I know that there are a number of books that have metaphors and stories for hypnosis for kids. I have a couple somewhere. I'll look for them and see if I can find a good one for you.

In the meantime, everything I've learned and used with children has to do with the fact that kids are mostly "in hypnosis" all the time anyhow (i.e., suggestible with the critical faculty not very well developed yet) and that stories that make a certain point work very well with them.

My guess is that if you "talked" to the children's "unconscious" mind, as if you were talking to a inner part of him (which you are), and suggested that he become very aware and then wakeful before and as the bladder signals it needs emptying, the the child's brain will signal him to get up, go and go back to sleep, perhaps without even waking up.. I was a very sound sleeper and remember hating to wake up from a deep sleep. You might create a "watching and alerting" superhero character who's only job was watch and monitor the bladder as it become too full to hold. Let this character watch and waken the child when the bladder (or whatever receptacle you might want to create) becomes 3/4 full. Create dire consequence for "spilling over" (in this make-believe scenario) and that his job is very important. The receptacle CAN NOT SPILL OVER for whatever reason...make sure it's not traumatic though.

I've found over the years that one can talk directly to one's brain (or subconscious) and tell it to wake up at a certain time, stop bleeding, take away headaches, take away other pain, that it (the brain) can do exactly that. I've cured my own menstrual cramps as a teenager, migraine headaches, back pain and I haven't owned an alarm clock in more years than I can remember. All I have to do is look at the time and tell myself I have to wake up in X number of hours, and I wake up.

I believe everyone can also do these things but they don't realize they can.

I hope that helps. I'll look and see if I can find any specific metaphor scripts for bedwetting.

Susan
http://www.hypno4success.com

Dan Elliott said:

Hi Marianne
Personally I'd have no issue with a child of 5 still wetting the bed. Still, if it's a concern what I do is work with the parent or guardian. I'd also demand some form of medical confirmation that the child has no physiological issues before proceeding. What I do first of all is to educate the parent. I let them know how very natural and simple the hypnotic state is. I then teach them to utilise the hypnagogic state experienced by the child as they drift off to sleep. This state, as we know, is a perfect state of mind in which to be offered suggestions.
So, ideally, we have the parent read a the child a bedtime story. As the eyelids flutter, the breathing rate changes slightly, and the child begins to drift off, I have them offer the child a suggestion. It is in fact a hypnotic suggestion.

It is important that the suggestion contains no negatives. For instance, we do not say "Do not wet the bed tonight". It is believed by many that the subconscious mind cannot easily process negatives such as "not". Therefore, a superior suggestion would be something akin to "It would be so good ... to wake up with a dry bed ... in the morning".

This works. I wish you well.

Dan Elliott.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on April 6, 2010 at 6:18am

Hi Marianne,

Here's a great case story by Ron Stubbs involving a 7 yr old boy: http://ronstubbs.com/40.html

Kelley

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Permalink Reply by Chris Witherspoon on April 6, 2010 at 2:25pm

My grand-daughter lives with me and we didn't even try potty training until she was 3. once we has the basics down we put her in a wonderful product called pull-up. They are designed like underwear and are very absorbent yet rather thin compared to diapers. They are used as a transition and work really well and keeps the bed dry. Everyone is happy

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Permalink Reply by Marianne Robson on April 6, 2010 at 3:23pm

To all of you who have replied so far, thank you so much for making the time! So many great ideas and interesting suggestions... I will let you all know in due time what worked. It is wonderful to be part of such a helpful community.

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Permalink Reply by Marianne Robson on April 6, 2010 at 3:28pm

What an amazing story, Kelley! Thank you so much for sharing it, I just loved it, especially the last paragraph...

Kelley Woods said:

Hi Marianne,

Here's a great case story by Ron Stubbs involving a 7 yr old boy: http://ronstubbs.com/40.html

Kelley

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Permalink Reply by J Lynn on April 8, 2010 at 4:59pm

Hi,

My daughter bed wet, and it was because her bladder was small, when she had her growing spurt, her bladder grew too and presto her bed wetting stopped. It was genetic - family history of bed wetting. So I took a laid back approach, simply reassured her that in time her bladder would grow and this would not be a problem, never made a fuss, cleaned the sheets - and let her know that it was just fine she had a little bladder - she is now in her late 20's and thankful that her childhood was calm, and not full of frenzied activities like her aunts - going from Doctor to Doctor - year after year, full of hype and mis-information. And if her children bed wet she knows why - little bladder. Family history information woudl be a good starting point.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on April 8, 2010 at 8:26pm

Hi Marianne,

Assuming the parents have consulted a doctor and the young man is healthy - this is easy!

A) Check out Roger Moore's posts on this subject. Life-style factors like consuming beverages before bed might be contributing to the problem. Yes, it really can be that simple.

B) I might draw a model of his brain and bladder and explain how hypnosis is gonna help them work together so that he wakes up dry... I'd keep it simple -- the drawing is just for capturing his imagination and suggesting hypnosis will help him - ('Wink')

C) Consider suggesting that if ever necessary, he will have the "dream" and every time he does his brain and bladder will be decidong if they have to wake him up to pee or if he can hold it until he wakes up... Give him a rhyme - "I don't have to try -- I wake up dry" and send him on his way...


Michael E.
PS - Cool story - Kelley

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Edgington Sr on April 8, 2010 at 8:26pm

Since you are not a medical doctor, your first step should be to have the child checked for physical problems. All being well there, it is obviously a psychological problem since you have ruled out the other possibility. That or a parent who has developed the habit of giving the child drinks close to bedtime which you can easily check with a question....The "stories" come later when all other possibilities have been disposed of.. My own experiences over the years has been insecurity in a majority of cases, too much to drink comes second, and the story of a tiny bladder is most likely accidental hypnotic suggestion that worked, though I never rule out the physical, hence the medical check first...

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Permalink Reply by Pattie Freeman CH.t, MST on April 8, 2010 at 11:15pm

One of my clients was 13th and still wet the bed and his interest was in tennis so I converted his thoughts into improving his game. He was thinking about that and showing his attention to something he loves and let go of any stress, Not to be lazy of not getting up when he needs to go to the bathroom at night. I gave him a cd to take home and he did excellently...

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