If you’re concerned about your child’s behavior, it may be time to talk with a counselor. But figuring out what type of therapy is best for your kids can be tricky.
Kids often need help dealing with serious emotional issues, like traumatic experiences or severe anxiety. But they can also benefit from learning tools that promote healthy coping and emotional growth. Visit https://www.mychildstherapy.com/ for more information.
A good therapist will be familiar with several types of child therapy. They may choose one type of therapy or use a combination, depending on the needs of your child and family.
Behavior therapy can help kids who struggle with social skills, anxiety, or depression. This therapy uses techniques to teach the child and their caregivers ways to manage these symptoms. The child will learn new strategies and practice them in sessions. The therapist will also provide tools to help the family cope with stress and deal with trauma.
Play therapy is a form of behavior therapy that helps kids express themselves. This therapy can be especially helpful for kids with autism and ADHD. It involves the use of toys and games that allow children to express their emotions in a safe environment. This type of child therapy can help kids build healthy relationships, learn to regulate their emotions, and develop a sense of self-esteem.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a popular form of treatment that helps kids with mental illness. It teaches the child and their caregivers to identify negative thoughts and behaviors and replace them with positive ones. CBT can help the child overcome anxiety, depression, and other symptoms by changing their thinking patterns.
This form of treatment can be used alone or in conjunction with other treatments, such as medications. It is usually short-term and can be done in the office or at home.
Another form of CBT is exposure and response prevention. This therapy helps kids who suffer from anxiety by slowly exposing them to the things that trigger their fear. It is often used with children who have phobias and social anxiety.
Psychodynamic therapy is a more traditional therapy that can be used for kids who struggle with ADHD or autism. This therapy can help them understand their emotions more clearly and tap into their subconscious mind. This technique can help them understand their problems better and develop a strong bond with their parents. This can also make them more productive and active.
Trauma-Focused Therapies
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, or TF-CBT, addresses the effects of trauma on children and their parents. It focuses on fostering coping skills and the cognitive processing of maladaptive thoughts and feelings related to traumatic experiences. While regular CBT can help with many different psychological disorders, TF-CBT is specifically designed to address the lingering impact of childhood trauma on children and their families. Specifically, it has been shown to reduce PTSD symptoms in kids, such as depression, anger, and behavioral problems like aggression and sexualized behavior.
TF-CBT was originally designed to treat PTSD symptoms associated with child sexual abuse, but it has also been proven effective in treating other types of trauma, such as physical abuse or neglect, witnessing community or domestic violence, a traumatic loss, or natural disasters. Research shows that TF-CBT can be delivered in 12-16 sessions of outpatient treatment. During treatment, kids and their caregivers work together on psychoeducation (learning about the causes and typical reactions of trauma), coping skills (e.g., relaxation, identification of distressing emotions, cognitive coping), gradual exposure (e.g., imaginal or in vivo), the creation of trauma narratives (recalling and sharing difficult details about a traumatic experience with a therapist), and the resolution of maladaptive cognitions related to these memories.
For children with significant PTSD-related behavioral problems, a therapist may work with the family to develop a contingency reinforcement program. In these programs, the therapist will help the child and parent collaboratively identify specific behaviors that they would like to change and create specific rewards and consequences for doing so. The therapist will then reinforce positive behavior with rewards and punish negative behavior with consequences as needed.
Because trauma often involves a betrayal of trust, children can initially minimize their PTSD symptoms and behaviors to avoid being perceived as weak or damaged by adults. This can make it challenging for therapists to get a clear picture of your child’s current trauma responses. Therefore, a therapist using the TF-CBT approach will typically include nonoffending parents in treatment through collaborative child-parent and conjoint therapist-parent sessions. These sessions help parents understand their children’s PTSD reactions while developing and implementing healthy coping and communication strategies with the child.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a problem-oriented strategy. Unlike psychoanalysis, it deals less with the past and more with identifying distressing thought patterns that need changing, along with any behavior that goes with them. CBT therapists work at all levels of cognition, recognizing that thinking happens on different scales, and choosing therapy tools accordingly. They help children and adults cope with anxiety disorders, depression, psychosis, and physical health problems like chronic pain. CBT is most often delivered one to one, but can also be given in a group setting.
Group Therapy
If you have a child who can’t control their emotions, is acting out or has a hard time opening up to you, it could be a sign that they need children’s counseling. These professionals can help your kids open up and identify what is causing them stress so that they can learn healthy coping mechanisms to feel better.
In addition to treating depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders, child counselors also treat children who have experienced trauma. For example, if your child has been exposed to domestic or international violence, or they have suffered from the loss of a family member, pet, home or other major loss, then they may have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Counseling can help these children process their thoughts and feelings, and learn how to handle anxiety and fear in healthier ways.
Children often find it difficult to express their emotions, and this can lead to low self-esteem and lack of confidence. They might also struggle to adapt to change, which can be especially hard for children who have been exposed to trauma or significant loss. Counseling can help children develop the skills they need to communicate their emotions effectively and cope with change in a healthy way.
During group therapy, participants interact with each other in small groups while being guided by a trained therapist. This allows children to build social skills and gain insight into their own relationships through observational learning. In addition, child therapists use activities like the “Slow Motion” game to teach children about self-control. In this game, children pick a card and act out whatever is written on it, but they have to do it in slow motion for one minute. The therapist will time them using a stopwatch.
Child therapists are able to work with a variety of issues, but they usually prioritize the needs of each individual child. They will tailor their approach to the specific needs of the child and family, as well as consider the impact that the traumatic or upsetting event may have had on the child’s mental health.
