Anxiety in Children

Question
Hello Del. I have your GREAT ESCAPES books. I've been asked to work with a 10-year-old girl who is suffering from "anxiety". It is so severe that she has vomited in class, and now suffers anxiety about possibly repeating that incident. Mother seems very supportive. I was very up-front with the Mom about the fact that I don't have a lot of experience with children that age. I would like to help her and wonder if any of your books have resources that deal with anxiety in children.

Answer
Obviously, the first and most helpful thing to do would be to see if you can uncover when and why the anxiety began. I find that if the child doesn't seem to know, asking the question again, when they're in a more hypnotic trance, can reveal much more. If the child doesn't want to speak, then have her respond with ideomotor signals, such as using her fingers, or nodding her head. Or, for more fun, have her hold a pendulum while you ask the questions, with the pendulum moving in different directions, like a straight line and a circle, for Yes or No responses. This proves to the child, as well, the power of her own mind, and, therefore, her own power in solving the problem. A number of scripts in my GREAT ESCAPES books work well with anxiety, such as this child is experiencing. I would suggest that, first, you use the problem-solving (solution-finding) process script in Volume IV, which has two versions - one for very young children and one for the age you're working with. This script is designed to seek out, and change, any initiating imprints on the mind causing the anxiety in the first place. I've found that this makes the deeper mind more receptive to further suggestions in later sessions. In the GREAT ESCAPES volumes for adults and pre-teens, II and III, there are a couple of helpful scripts related to anxiety and phobia. These can be adapted for children this age. It helps to tell the child that she is so intelligent you?re going to treat her like an adult. Since anxiety leaves one feeling powerless and out of control, non-script possibilities I've used have to do with empowering the child. One possibility is to have her create, in her imagination, a dream world in which she, with you, enters to seek out the anxiety-creating beast. Have her wear a magic cloak and carry a magic wand to tame the beast, so that it can never frighten her again. Or, you can create an adventure story in which the child takes a journey where she meets the one that creates the anxious feelings. From that point, let the child figure out ways to deal with the "beast." Be prepared to have the beast turn out to be someone the child knows. If so, use this to take the child back to the frightening incident. Confirm that the beast is no longer dangerous and destroy it or release it, whatever the child wants to do with it. Also, when I've worked with this, I've sometimes had the child call forth a hero/heroine, friend or family member, or animal who they feel is very courageous. I ask that person/animal if they're willing to share some of their courage with the child. Then, that person transfers that courage into some part of the child's body through whatever mans he or she chooses. The child needs to remember to thank that person for their courage. The same kind of transference can be made with "power."