fear in 33 month old child

You responded to my fearful question about 1.5 weeks ago about my 3 yr old son having some post traumatic stress issues with his baby brother being taken away in an ambulance. I just wanted to say thank you and share with you the outcome.

I had several conversations with a pediatric counselor and he advised us to do the following.  Take off the tape I had put on the red lights throughout the house as I was basically confirming or giving merit to his fear by covering them up.  It was like agreeing that yes, those red lights are scary so let's cover them up.  Secondly, he had us do the "farber method".  He had us give him dramamine before bed time and then put him to bed with our normal routine, teeth brushing and a story book.  We did that the first night and it was HORRIBLE!  He pleaded, and cried and begged and screamed.  We had to return him to his bed about 10 times throughout a period of 2 hours.  The second night the same thing, only it was only about 45 minutes, the third night 15 minutes.  The fourth night, just protested going to bed for a few minutes.  The next few nights, the same.  He talks a bit about "woo-woo's" but seems rather unaffected at bedtime...in fact, this morning, he was afraid of "bees"!!!
Thank you for everything, and to everyone who has any question of whether the Farber method works, it does!!!!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Dear Lisa,

Thank you for sending along the update. I'm pleased to hear that things are better and that your interventions were successful.

[lori]

IS THE DRAMAMINE USED TO HELP HIM RELAX AND GET TO SLEEP EASIER OR WHAT? MY SON AGE 7 IS EXPERIENCING EXTREME PROBLEMS WHEN IT TIME FOR BED. WE'VE TRIED EVERYTHING-HE HAS ALOT OF ANIEXTY ABOUT BEING ALONE AND IN THE "DARK" WE HAVE BATTLED THIS FOR MANY YEARS BUT HAS GOTTEN REALLY BAD AGAIN THIS LAST YEAR SINCE WE'VE MOVED TO A NEW HOME.I'M VERY CONCERNED HOW THIS NIGHTLY BATTLE WILL AFFECT THE REST OF OUR FAMILY.THE WHOLE HOUSE IS IN AN UPROAR OVER THIS-ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS? DESPERATE......