Case Study: Five year old & nail biting

A concerned mother called and reported her five year old son had a bad habit of biting his nails.  The nail biting was bad enough to cause infection and the young man didn’t like the pain resulting from his unsightly habit.
 
Children can be a double-edged sword.  While they can be very open and creative imaginations, and are highly receptive to suggestion, they can also be challenging to keep focused.  In this instance, this young man was also very animated, and could hardly keep still.  The great thing about him was he wanted the change.  I asked him why he was here to see me and he confidently stated “I want to stop biting my nails … they hurt … and it makes me feel bad.”  He was impressively articulate for being five years old.
 
While he was serious about change, his attention was all over and so I had to develop some unique induction and change work techniques that would accommodate this.  In circumstances with kids, hypnotists often will shorten hypnosis sessions as a strategy to get the suggestions in while not mentally tiring or boring the client.  In this instant, I used several micro hypnotic sessions and 'magic moon rocks' and crystals that ensured compounded suggestions.
 
The client required three visits and became more invested each time.  Progress was noted with each visit.  Months later a conversation with his mother confirmed the young man was doing great and still not biting his nails, she said “…it’s like night and day!”

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