Tele-hypnosis in the Treatment of Adolescent School Refusal

Abstract

Few studies have presented the use of hypnosis in the treatment of school refusal. These studies haven't approached the problem of self-hypnosis during the stressful morning hours. This paper introduces a therapeutic approach, which utilizes known hypnotic techniques, but rehearses them via the telephone, while the patient is at his/her house or on the way to school and the therapist is at the office. Twelve school-refusal adolescents were treated with different hypnotherapy techniques. Equipped with cellular phones and with the therapist's availability, these adolescents could benefit from hypnosis as an alternative coping strategy when the anxiety occurred. Results showed that 8 of the participants maintained full-time attendance, 3 showed partial improvement and 1 failed to improve his attendance. This study illustrates the benefits of self-hypnosis in the treatment of school refusal, while also enabling the patient to maintain the connection with the therapist so that the anxiety may be confronted when it arises.

A Systematic Review of Somatic Symptoms in School Refusal

“…Multiple studies specified somatic symptoms could occur during school hours (16,66,71,77,80,94,102,105,113,114,121,122), whereas another one stated that somatic symptoms disappeared once the child was settled at school (57). Somatic symptoms disappeared if the patient could stay or return home, or during weekends and holidays (26,31,34,46,51,53,57,61,66,71,75,77,93,95,99,109,113,123,124). One study pointed to a link between symptoms and mother-child separation (101).…”

Hypnosis and the potential application in the school setting.

“…With regard to other types of school-related anxiety, two case studies from the 1990s reported that one elementary school and one middle school student, respectively, benefited from a hypnosis intervention that increased their attendance and eliminated their panic attacks (Brown, Summers, Coffman, & Riddell, 1996;Roberts, 1998). One study (Aviv, 2006) developed a novel application of hypnosis over the telephone scheduled before students' arrival at school. The intervention included relaxation, focus on breathing, and suggestions to bolster confidence, reduce anxiety, and change thinking patterns.…”

Online hypnotic psychotherapy with distant patients

“…Practicing hypnosis with distant patients by phone (tele-hypnosis) was initiated approximately fifty years ago and was described as a possible and efficient practice. [3][4][5][6][7] Two decades have passed since the first trials using videoconferencing hypnosis (video-hypnosis) were introduced; 8 since then, not much has been written about it. 8,9 Overall, videoconferencing has been accepted and used in many therapeutic fields, including psychotherapy and even psychoanalysis.…”