Researchers suggest that helping a child to understand a medical procedure may make them less fearful of the event in the future.

A current study found that the more a parent talked with a child about an occurring medical procedure, the more likely the child was to accurately remember it in the future. Inaccurate memories have been known to confuse the child, making him or her more fearful of the event later on. This can build up over time, leaving the child anxious and afraid of medical attention. An accurate memory, on the other hand, can help the child understand the medical treatment, thereby easing stress and anxiety and helping him or her cope with the pain of the event.

For very young children, it was found that distracting the child with conversation during a painful procedure and then explaining it afterward was beneficial.

Though further research is needed, it is possible that a few encouraging words and an honest explanation will leave children with fewer negative feelings and less fear of medical procedures.

Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics October 2002;23:1-6

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

I am delighted that this research supports the value of talking children through frightening medical procedures. While this approach is useful, it pales in comparison to combining a simple approach like psychological acupressure (EFT) with the talking. It takes the same amount of time and very little extra effort, and there is virtually no cost involved. You can learn how to do this technique for free with my EFT manual, or for more in-depth guidance my EFT series is available on DVD or VHS.

I have to share a very exciting result I had with EFT and children. Last month, a 12-year-old boy with cerebral palsy visited me as a new patient. One of his major complaints was that he had some peculiar disruption is his ability to think. He called it "reverse thinking." Other doctors had previously attributed it to the cerebral palsy, but to me it sounded like a classic bioelectrical short-circuiting that would be easily treated with EFT.

So I tapped (tapping is a technique used in EFT) with him for a few minutes on some of these issues, and his "reverse thinking" disappeared. This had been a major disruption in his life and really prevented him from interacting at a socially appropriate level. When I saw him last week for his one-month follow-up appointment, the improvement we saw at the initial visit still remained.

This was quite amazing. Interestingly, he also had a history of waking up every night for over 11 years with a nightmare that was so frightening, it required him to sleep on the floor of his parent's bedroom after the nightmare.

I started him on cod liver oil at his initial visit, and it is likely that this, along with a complete abstinence of all grains, stopped all of his nightmares. After three weeks on the program, his 11-year nightly nightmare challenge stopped and has not returned.

Needless to say, his mother was delighted that she has her son back. He has already started to recover in his schooling and in the skills he had not been able to acquire due to his biological handicap.

It is amazing what EFT and some basic nutritional biochemistry can do.