Therapy for Teens & Adolescents
Are you wondering if your adolescent might benefit from a little therapy? If so, you’re not alone. Therapy can help children and teens with all kinds of issues, such as inattention, poor social skills, mood swings, anxiety, depression, and even defiance.
Some signs you and your adolescent might find therapy helpful include:
- A pattern of feeling sad or hopeless
- Overreacting to situations
- Becoming easily angry
- A drop in grades at school
- Losing interest in activities they usually enjoy
- Changes in patterns of sleeping or eating
- Inability to sit still or concentrate
- Trouble making decisions or thinking clearly
- Setting fires or harming animals
- Expressing thoughts of suicide
No two therapy approaches look alike. We combine multiple approaches to best fit you and your adolescent’s needs.
There are many different types of therapy approaches available to children and adolescents today.
Play Therapy for Teens
Play Therapy for teens uses your child’s most fluent language even as a teenager – play – to help them make positive changes. Play therapy listens and observes as your adolescent “speaks their own language,” and then interprets the play to better understand your child’s emotional condition. Different types of play help teens figure out feelings and how best to express them. Play therapy can help kids who have been affected by death, divorce, trauma, and other difficult life events.
Behavioral Therapy for Teens
Behavior Therapy focuses on specific behaviors your adolescent has that need to be increased or decreased, encouraged or discouraged. Then together, the therapist and parents work to arrange the things in the environment that may be influencing those behaviors. Logical or natural consequences are used to motivate your child to make these changes. This type of therapy is especially helpful in addressing autism and attention issues.
CBT for Adolescents
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on helping adolescents understand how their thoughts affect the way they feel and their behavior. Children and teens learn how to identify ways of thinking that are not helpful, change those ways of thinking, and then feel more confident in handling life. This type of adolescent and child therapy is helpful in addressing mood disorders.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic Therapy with children and teens is their version of “talk therapy,” but the children and teen’s version. It provides a space for children and teens to discuss “what’s bothering them on the inside,” which then helps motivate them to improve how they think and behave. Psychodynamic therapy is used with all types of challenges that children and teens face.
Therapy Unique to Your Teen
What is perhaps the most important thing to remember when considering therapy at BATT, is that we appreciate the uniqueness of your child or teen. So no two therapy approaches look alike. That’s because we combine multiple approaches to best fit your child’s needs and your family’s needs.
Support Services for Parents
Occasionally, parents simply need support from someone who understands and has experience identifying solutions for children with emotional and behavioral challenges. Working with a BATT therapist could be the answer you are looking for. Consultation sessions with therapists who specialize in child and adolescent therapy are available to discuss potential options for your children or to discuss services that may best fit the needs of your family as a whole. We are committed to helping parents help their children live a more successful and fulfilling life. We can help you prioritize the needs of your child and provide parenting strategies for you to use at home that will also nurture the bond between you and your child.
Family Conflict Resolution
Sometimes children develop certain emotions and behavior because of something that has occurred that has affected the entire family. In this case, it may be helpful to sit down with a neutral and objective professional who can help clarify the underlying problems that are fueling the conflict in the family. Family conflict can occur in relationships between parents and children, between siblings, and also can occur following the blending of families. (Learn more about family therapy at BATT.)
Adolescent Therapy
Many older children and adolescents prefer to be treated as young adults and respond best to a combination of play therapy techniques geared toward teens and adult “talk therapy.” These children and teens are capable of talking about what is bothering them and have the ability to try new solutions to solve their problems. We try to help them look objectively at their behaviors, feelings and thoughts and the situations in which they occur.
If you are ready to explore the options available for you and your adolescent, contact us today to set up an appointment!
Resources
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
The Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the prevention, treatment and cure of anxiety disorders.
Freedom from Fear
Freedom From Fear is a national not-for-profit mental health advocacy association who seek to impact the lives of people affected by anxiety, depression, and related disorders.
National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the lead Federal agency for research on mental and behavioral disorders. NIMH works to improve mental health through biomedical research on mind, brain, and behavior.
Adolescent Counseling Articles
Why is college so stressful?
It’s supposed to be fun, isn’t it? Learning and hanging out with friends. That little nirvana between high school and the real world. Truth is
Why Some People Have More Extreme Emotional Reactions
Being emotional is a part of life. And even though emotions are a natural part of being human they sometimes get in the way of
What the heck is a quarterlife crisis?
More than ever before teens, 20-year olds, and 30-year olds are feeling frazzled, anxious, and overwhelmed. The search for oneself is becoming more and more