JAASEP Fall 2013 Part 6 of 13
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The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or treatment (CAT)1 – collectively, this author will use the abbreviation CAM/T – has been reported to increase tremendously not only in the West over the last 30 years (Fønnebø et al., 2007), but has also appeared to be a worldwide phenomenon (Eskinazi, 2001). While the exact Both Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Complementary and Alternative Treatment (CAT) will be used interchangeably or collectively as CAM/T to mean the same thing throughout this paper.
prevalence of CAM/T use is not known, the World Health Organization (2002) estimates that 80% of the populations worldwide depend on these complementary and alternative therapies. The use of CAM/T is more widespread in the East than the West. In the West, for instance, 42% of Americans (Eisenberg et al., 1993, 1998) and between 20% and 65% of Europeans use some form of CAM/T (Fisher & Ward, 1994). In the East, for example, Hong (2001) reported that between 29% and 53% of South Koreans use CAM/T, while Yamashita et al. (2002) reported 76% of Japanese use it.
Abstract
This paper explores the use of hypnosis, which is one specific specialized practice of complementary and alternative medicine or treatment (CAM/T), and its effectiveness as a treatment for children with learning disabilities. The World Health Organization (2002) has reported an increase in number of people turning to CAM/T for help when they feel that conventional medicine and treatment fail to solve their chronic issues related to mental and/or physical health. In Singapore, reports in mass media point to an increasing number of parents seeking CAM/T to help their children with special needs, especially those with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities, cope with their daily living activities and studies. The survey study reported in this paper was done in 2007-2008 involving 102 participants. Out of this number, only a small sample of 11 participating parents had sent their children with learning disabilities for hypnosis or hypnotherapy, with the hope that the treatment would help their children to perform better academically.