Therapy is often thought of as for a couple going through a marriage crisis, or for someone who is grieving. While these are often excellent reasons to seek out a therapist, it does not always need to be such an extreme case for someone to experience the benefits of therapy.
Children are a good example of this. While they will experience grief and sometimes very serious situations, therapy can be beneficial to help with development and processing the everyday feelings that come along with growing up.
This piece is going to take a look at some of the signs that your child may benefit from a therapist, and what therapy could do to help.
Eating or Sleeping Issues
Sleeping enough and getting a decent intake of nutrients is crucial for children, as it supports their growth. If you find that these parts of their development have become disrupted, it might be a good time to seek the advice of a professional.
It could be something simple that has put them off their food or disrupted their sleep, and if you have had an appointment with a doctor and they have ruled out anything physical, then the issue may be psychological.
A therapist will work with your child to identify the issues that could be keeping them awake, disrupting their sleep, or putting them off their food (or the opposite). Once identified, they will be able to put a plan in place to help control the issues that are causing these changes, then hopefully, improvement will follow.
Children experience a lot of intense emotions growing up as they discover the world, sometimes these emotions can be difficult to manage, and sometimes become disruptive.
If your child is acting out more than normal, having trouble in school, is demonstrating aggressive behaviour or has stopped listening, this could be indicative of a bigger problem than just the journey of growing up.
Children often act out if they are unhappy, do not know how to express themselves, have no one to express themselves to, or are feeling emotions they do not understand or like – this is why punishment is usually not the best course of action.
A therapist for your child can act as a buffer between the world they know and someone completely neutral, which could help them open up. Therapists will often be able to determine if there are other factors too, like neurological differences or disabilities, that can be contributing to their behavioural changes.
Contact a child psychologist for more information on how they might be able to help.
If your child who was very active with friends, school based activities or interacting with others online starts to withdraw, there could be something bigger at play then just wanting some time to themselves.
Withdrawing behaviour and social isolation can be signs of bullying, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. This is why it is important to get to the bottom of this behaviour before it gets any worse and affects them further.