Enuresis (bed wetting) is a very distressing condition after a certain age has passed. Mostly, this condition affects children, but it can also affect teenagers and adults. There is definitely a hereditary component to bed wetting – many children will be late to achieve overnight dryness if they have a parent who also wet the bed later in their childhood. There can be some factors at play with hormones in the brain that have yet to reach levels that allow the bladder control.
Fortunately, hypnotherapy can often help relax the person and enable them achieve dry beds under a number of circumstances. I see many children and teenagers in my practice for bedwetting. It’s such a common issue. When working with younger children (6 years to 12 years) I use a fun, story time technique. For older children I use a blended technique appropriate to their age.
For younger children, I build into their story all the suggestions for the child to stop this habit. We also use the story to reinforce the idea of a dry bed. Prior to the session I will find out from mum or dad what the child’s favourite characters are – superheroes, princesses, cartoon characters or favourite storybook characters. Or, I can discover what the child enjoys doing and build that in. The idea is to ensure that when we tell the story to the child it is relevant and enjoyable and interesting for that particular child.
It is important that when we are addressing the problem in hypnosis that we avoid the terms “bedwetting” or “wet beds” as this focuses the mind on those two words – wet and bed. In hypnosis we prefer to use terms like “dry bed” and “feeling dry”.
So when we are working with children we don’t say “tonight you won’t wet the bed”. What we would say in hypnosis is “tonight you will have a dry bed”. Eventually the idea of dry beds becomes an attractive one.
We usually use two sessions for bedwetting with youngsters. Between sessions and after the second session I supply an audio for the child for them to use as they are falling asleep at night. This audio is only short (five minutes) and it contains all the suggestion sets we have used in the sessions. This is a great reinforcer between sessions and after the second session so the child can continue to use their audios for as long as they need to.
With older children (pre-teens and teenagers) we understand fully when the bedwetting started and if there is any emotional reasons why they are doing this (such as anxiety, stress, fears or phobias). Provided we don’t discover any underlying emotional issues we would proceed with direct suggestions with more reflection, as appropriate to their age.
Enuresis is an upsetting condition after a certain age for parents and children. It can have a negative impact on the child’s social life with many children being self-conscious and fearful about wetting the bed at their friends house or having a friend see a nappy in their room. This can have an impact on their self-esteem.
Its always worth trying hypnosis for dry beds as it’s a fun and enjoyable and non-invasive way to cure this.
Below is a blog about Children’s Hypnosis for more information generally about hypnosis and children.