Child and Adolescent Therapy
Psychotherapy for children and adolescence refers to a variety of techniques used to help children and adolescents who are experiencing difficulties with emotions and behavior. The basic tool for bringing about change in a person's feelings and behaviors relies on communications. The treatment method may involve the individual child, some family members or the whole family. When working with children and adolescents, they benefit from playing, drawing, building, and pretending, as well as talking during sessions, as an important way for sharing feelings and resolving problems.
As part of the initial assessment, the child and adolescent's psychotherapist will determine the need for psychotherapy. This decision will be based upon things such as the child's current problems and history to help with the presenting concerns. Psychotherapy might be used in combination with other treatments (medication, behavior management, or work with the school). The relationship that develops between the therapist and the patient is very important. The child or adolescent must feel comfortable, safe and understood. This type of trusting environment is one of the key factors making it easier for the child to express her thoughts and feelings and as a result use therapy in a more beneficial way.
Psychotherapy may help children and adolescents in a variety of ways. They receive emotional support, resolve conflicts with people, understand feelings and problems, and try out new solutions to old problems. Goals for therapy can be specific like for example change in behavior, improved relations with friends, or more general such as reducing anxiety or improving self-esteem. The length of psychotherapy depends on the complexity and severity of each individual client's problems.
What is Play Therapy?
In recent years a growing number of noted mental health professional have observed that play is as important to human happiness and well being as love and work. Some of the greatest thinkers of all time, including Aristotle and Plato, have reflected on why play is so fundamental in our lives. The following are some of the many benefits of what play does to a person.
The staff of California Counseling uses play therapy to help children express what is troubling them when they do not have the verbal language to express their thoughts and feelings. In play therapy, toys are like the child's words and play is the child's language. Through play, therapists may help children learn more adaptive behaviors when they lack being in touch with emotions or have bad social skills. The positive relationship that develops between the therapist and child during play therapy sessions provides a corrective emotional experience that is necessary for healing. Play therapy may also be used to promote cognitive development and provide insight about and resolution of inner conflicts or wrong thinking in the child.
When children have used up their own problem solving tools they misbehave and may act out at home, with friends or at school. Play therapy allows trained mental health professionals to assess and understand children's play. It is also used to help children cope with difficult emotions and find solutions to problems. By confronting problems in the clinical play therapy setting, children find healthier solutions. Play therapy allows children to change the way they think about, feel toward, and resolve their concerns. Even the most troubling problems can be confronted in play therapy and lasting resolutions can be discovered, rehearsed, mastered and adapted into lifelong strategies.
Play Therapy differs from regular play in the sense that the therapist helps children to address and resolve their own problems. Play therapy builds on a natural way and teaches children learn about themselves and their relationships in the world around them. Through play therapy, children learn to communicate with others, express feelings, modify behavior, develop problem-solving skills, and learn a variety of ways in relating to others. Play provides a safe psychological distance from their problems and allows expression of thoughts and feelings appropriate to their individual development.
Play therapy is especially appropriate for children ages 3 through 12 years old. Teenagers and adults can also benefit from play therapy, but might be more self-conscious and not be as open to the method as children are. Play therapy can be used for multiple mental health conditions, such as anger management, grief and loss, divorce and family dissolution, crises and trauma, death, relocation, hospitalization, chronic illness, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, natural disasters etc. Play therapy can also be useful for modification of behavioral disorders such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism or pervasive developmental disorder, academic and social developmental, physical and learning disabilities, conduct disorders etc.
As a result of play therapy treatment, the child will become more responsible for behaviors and develop more successful strategies. He will develop new and creative solutions to problems and develop respect for thoughts, feelings, acceptance and empathy towards self and others, as well as learning to experience and express emotions. The application of new social skills and relational skills with family will be utilized. With all of this positive change the self esteem of the client will grow.
Families play an important role in children's healing processes. The interaction between children's problems and their families is always complex. Sometimes children develop problems as a way of signaling that there is something wrong in the family. Other times the entire family becomes distressed because the child's problems are so disruptive. In all cases, children and families heal faster when they work together. The Therapist will make decisions about how and when to involve some or all members of the family in the play therapy. The therapist will want to communicate regularly with the child's caretakers to develop a plan for resolving problems as they are identified and to monitor the progress of the treatment. Other options might include involving the parents or caretakers directly in the treatment, or the whole family or in whatever way the therapist finds most helpful for the child's healing process.