Therapies for Children to Help Them Fight Mental Illness

Children are very sensitive and one may not be able to make out when the child requires psychotherapy. With the changing times, the need of a child is also changing drastically. The children cannot be treated in the same manner as they were used to be treated sometimes back. A child may be going through a lot inside and may not be able to share, then it is the counselling or the therapy that can bring the much-needed change in your child. A simple conversation between the child and the therapist can bring about a lot of change.

Your child may require help but as a parent, most of us shy away from taking our child to a therapist then online therapy is another option that can also be explored but one should understand that there is nothing wrong in opting for a counselling session with a specialist and nothing is bigger than your child's physical and mental health that are dependent on each other. These therapies can help in boosting confidence, self-esteem, and making them emerge as more positive human beings.

Child therapy can transform your child and help him in resolving conflicts, receiving emotional support, or comprehending their own thoughts and feelings in a better manner. A child psychologist specialises in doing his job and working with children.

Goals of child therapy

The most common goals of child therapy are mentioned below that a therapist needs to achieve while treating the children fighting with mental health issues.

• Build self-esteem
• Improve the communication skill
• Drive healthy development
• Build emotional repertoire
• Build emotional vocabulary

Whether your child requires therapy or not?

There are certain symptoms that indicate that your child is going through some issues that need to be resolved and this is the time you need to see a counsellor immediately, Some of them are: 

• Unjustified aggression
• Lack of self-restraint
• Having difficulty in adjusting to social situations
• Having frequent nightmare and difficulty in sleeping
• A sudden drop in school performance
• The regular feeling of worry
• Feeling of anxiety
• Withdrawing from normal activities that children participate in or enjoy
• Loss of appetite
• A considerable amount of weight loss/gain
• getting obsessive about certain habits like hand washing
• self-harming
• Having thoughts of suicide
• experience voices in their head
• Getting socially isolated and wanting to be alone all the time
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Despite having normal health increased physical complaints

In addition to these, there may be some other issues that the child is dealing with. Some of them are:

• Persistent feelings of sadness
• Hopelessness
• Constant anger
• Develop a tendency to overreact in normal situations
• Engrossment with physical illness or their own appearance
• Have the inability to concentrate, think or make proper decisions
• Having the inability to sit still
• Change in diets or binging behaviour
• Violent acts such as destroying things or harming animals

Types of Therapies

There are many types of therapies that can prove to be a great relief for the children dealing with these issues. These may include:

Acceptance and commitment therapy: This helps the child to identify and accept his/her inner emotions.

Cognitive behavioural therapy:  This helps to improve the mood of the child, anxiety, and help a child to learn his/her feeling and behaviour

Family therapy: help a child to develop more positivity and help the family function in a constructive manner.

Group therapy: This therapy involves a group of many patients that is led by one or more therapists.

Interpersonal psychotherapy: This therapy helps in the treatment of children dealing with depression and apart from that it is also used to treat a variety of other clinical conditions that affect a child's emotional state.

Mentalization-based therapy: This therapy focuses on helping children in identifying themselves and helping them grow into healthy individuals.  

Parent-child interaction therapy: This therapy involves building a better relationship between the child and the parents. Parents interact with their children under the guidance of the therapist that leads to positive interactions.

Play therapy: This therapy involves the use of toys, blocks, dolls, puppets, drawings, and games that help the child to recognize, identify, and speak about their feelings.

Dialectical behaviour therapy: This therapy helps adolescents who deal with suicidal thoughts engage in self-harmful behaviour.

Supportive therapy: This kind of therapy involves supporting the children to cope up with stress, identify different behaviour patterns, and improve self-esteem.

EndNote

These therapies work wonders for the child whether it's a one-to-one session or taken through an online session. The one-to-one session has its benefits and there are many benefits of online therapy as well. 

Sometimes these therapies are applied individually and sometimes they are applied in combination with other therapies to have great results. There might be possibilities that a therapy that is working for a child may not be as effective for the other child as two children may have the same symptoms but different personalities. But we have to stand tough and support our children that contribute to their success.