Different Types of Child Therapies - Child Counseling

Do you wish to know about the different types of child therapies? Are you worried about your child and seek a counselor's help? Children these days suffer a lot of emotional turmoil due to various reasons. In this lockdown, when children were stuck at home and unable to move out. The children were more disturbed emotionally and disturbed. This has changed a lot of behavioral patterns in children and here children's therapy helps the kids to overcome this confusing emotional imbalance. But before knowing this let's know about Child Counseling.

What Is Child Counseling?

Child counseling as the name suggests works upon dealing with children and helping them cope up with different challenges and emotional disbalance they face while growing up. Child therapy or counseling helps children overcome this series of confused, fearful emotions. Child counseling builds up a space where children feel free and express all that is them. They hear the children out and help them change their approach in life and turn it positive. Below are some of the issues which the child counselor deals with. Let's check it.

What Issues Child Counseling Treats?

Child counseling treatment depends on the issue faced by the child. There are numerous issues children face in their life. Here are some:

1. Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the main issues dealt with in child therapy that teaches the children to deal with anxiety and emotional distress. Distress learning exercises and other techniques. Child therapy helps your child in speaking up about hidden feelings and managing issues which cause emotional turmoil.

2. Loss of Loved Ones

There is a huge impact of losing a loved one, be it humans or pets, on children. As adults many people fail to overcome it, so you can think of its impact on children. Loss of parent in childhood could also create a huge impact on the child. Child therapy helps children to understand their emotions and know that it is normal and important to feel the emotions.

3. Mental Trauma

There are life experiences that no child should witness. Still, many children face such issues as verbal abuse, sexual assault, accidents, etc which may lead to insomnia, fear, nightmares, flashbacks, and even worse. Child counseling helps children to overcome such traumas and share their feelings.

4. Divorce of Parents

Divorce of parents has a negative and huge impact on children. The trauma children undergo during the divorce of parents causes them to feel unloved, guilty, distressed, etc. Child counseling helps children through art, music, and other techniques like art therapy activities and excercise to cope with confusing feelings.

5. Change in Life

Change in life means a change in school, friends, city, remarriage of parents, divorce have a great impact on a child. It becomes difficult for children to speak about how they feel and suffer self-doubt. Child counseling or therapy work on making children focus on the positive aspects of change.

Signs Your Child Need Counseling

Do you know when to see a child counselor? Have you ever thought about whether your child needs a counselor or not? Many children face different issues and suffer emotional turbulence in their life. This becomes the reason for changes in the lifestyle and behavior of children. Here are some of the signs, which indicate that your child may need counseling or therapy.

1. Aggression

One of the biggest hints that your child may need counseling is sudden aggressive nature. If due to some reason your child has become suddenly aggressive then you must seek the help of a counselor to know what's troubling your child and help them cope with it.

2. Social Withdrawal

Have your child stopped meeting their friends or doing the things they loved? This may be the indication that your child is suffering from emotional turbulence and needs the help of a child therapist. Social withdrawal or isolation is one of the top signs that you need to look for a counselor for your child.

3. Loss of Appetite

Loss of appetite is yet another sign that you must look for a counselor. If your child used to eat properly and now suddenly dropped the appetite for no specific reason like illness, then this may be because of some distress. But before checking on a counselor, you must check that your child is not ill. 

4. Insomnia

Is your child having nightmares? Are your children facing difficulty in sleeping? Most of the time after facing a sudden shock or trauma a child may have difficulty in sleeping or nightmares. This is a strong indication that the child needs the help of a counselor to balance the emotional disturbance inside them.

5. Academic Decline

Yet another sign when you may check on a counselor is if your child is having a sudden academic decline or low grades without any specific reason. Mostly because of a heavy mind and inability to pour it out, children lose their concentration. This can be one of the factors why you should see a therapist.

6. Urine Leak

Does your child face the issue of urine leak at night? Most parents think of this as the naughtiness of the kids but due to shock, anxiety, fear, grief, or loss children face the issue of urine leak. This should not be taken lightly and children must be taken to a counselor. 

Types of Child Therapies

There are different types of counseling or therapy for children based on the issue faced by them. Each issue is treated specifically and has different therapies for them. Here are some of the types of child therapies that help children to develop and overcome their confused emotional turmoils.

1. CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy)

The CBT is for children who have a negative approach towards life and its events. The goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to change this negative approach into a positive one and this is done by reframing the way children think about life. Ultimately this therapy helps children to cope with the difficult situations in life.

2. TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy)

As the name suggests, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy deals with the effect of trauma. It is somewhat similar to cognitive behavioral therapy and helps the child to cope up with the trauma. It makes the children understand that they need not have to blame themselves for the trauma.

3. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, likewise its name suggests this deal with the procedure of acceptance of realities and feeling. Here the ACT therapist helps the children to accept and understand their emotions and then make a commitment to approach life optimistically.

4. Dialectical Behavior Therapy

DBT is for older children having suicidal thoughts and harming themselves. These children also suffer from Borderline Personality Disorder. They make the children take responsibility for their problems and help them to deal with them. 

5. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

It emphasizes or works on looking at issues that influence the behavior, thoughts, and feelings of children. It believes that once the inner struggle of a child is brought out the behavior will change. It looks at the behavioral patterns and the child's response to the conflict.

6. CCPT (Child-Centered Play Therapy)

CCPT works on using play as a method to help in the growth of the child. The use of toys and games therapy for kids help to express themselves more freely. This  therapy for children creates a secure and positive environment around kids which helps in healing.

7. Group Therapy

In this types of child therapy, the therapist handles more than one child. It helps in the peer interaction of kids and builds up social skills. It works on building relationships and makes kids understand the importance of company and express their feelings more lively.

8. PCIT (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy)

PCIT is a therapy for parents and children. It works on the parent and child relationship. It works on the behavioral problem through sessions. The therapist works on making the family bond stronger. 

9. Child Anger Management Therapy

Anger is a normal human emotion but can affect the living of a child. It helps children to identify the stressors that cause anger in them. The main goal of this therapy for kids is to make the children learn about expressing themselves and understand their thoughts, and learn to be able to calm down.

Conclusion

Child counseling or therapy is beneficial for you as well as for your child. Most of the time children are unable to express their feelings and emotions to their parents and end up suffering from emotional distress or turbulence. This leads to the development of fear, isolation, and other complications and disorders in children. Child counseling or therapies help children overcome emotional distress, fear, traumas, and other psychological issues. Seeking the help of a counselor makes the children free to express themselves and be lively. We hope that you find this piece about  types of child therapy informative and useful.

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