WHAT IS
MEDICAL HYPNOSIS?
MEDICAL HYPNOSIS IS ALSO KNOWN AS:
- Mental imagery,
- Guided imagery,
- Visualization.
When Dr. Lazarus sees patients who are motivated and have no other medical or psychological problems, they typically have significant improvement in keeping the bed dry after only 2 to 3 visits!
Plus, there are no medications and it is quite empowering!
There have been several studies about the different treatments for bedwetting, including hypnosis. Click below to view a presentation summarizing the research.
Research on Treatments for Bedwetting



Importantly, successful patients usually demonstrated improvement after only 2 or 3 visits. Children who were not successful were either not motivated or had parents who were too involved in the process.2
The most common treatments for bedwetting include medication (most commonly desmopressin, also known as DDAVP) and the bedwetting alarm.
Desmopressin alone provides, on average, one more dry night per week for most children during treatment. However, almost all of these children relapse once the medication is discontinued. Rare but serious side effects can occur in patients on this medication.3
The alarm reduces night-time bedwetting in about two-thirds of children during treatment, but half of the children resume having wet beds after they stop using it. The alarm can take up to 4 months to work and requires a great deal of parental involvement and supervision.4 In addition, children frequently remove the alarm by themselves, and the alarm often awakens everyone in the home except the patient!
2. Kohen, D. et al. (1984).The use of relaxation-mental imagery (self-hypnosis) in the management of 505 pediatric behavioral encounters. J Dev Behav Pediatr, 5:21-25.
3. The Cochrane Collaboration. (2009). Desmopressin for nocturnal enuresis in children (Review). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
4. The Cochrane Collaboration. (2009). Alarm interventions for nocturnal enuresis in children (Review). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.