Guided Fantasy as a Treatment for Childhood Insomnia

Abstract

A “guided fantasy” technique is described to relieve insomnia in children without the use of chemotherapy or the more conventional forms of hypnotherapy. In children at an age where fantasy is a spontaneous everyday response, relaxed sleep is induced through listening to a story from a tape that is created from the child's favourite fantasy figures and everyday likes and interests. The ‘guided fantasy’ is presented by the parents as a novel bedtime story rather than as a therapy procedure by the therapist. The child is allowed to feel he has a controlling influence in putting a favourite figure to sleep within the story, and so is gently led to accept sleep himself by choice. No active therapist is involved so there are no dangers of expected transference or abreaction.