THERAPEUTIC PRINCIPLES

Whether it is a child, an adolescent or an adult, being a human being is very complicated. This is especially true regarding our inner emotional worlds. There can be long lasting benefits in getting to know our inner selves better. Coming to understand one’s self better offers the best chance at healing and growth. Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis can provide effective treatments for a wide range of emotional difficulties. For treatment to be successful an environment must be created that provides a safe place to explore sensitive areas in one’s life. Warmth and understanding are essential within a partnership between therapist and patient.

Children require a modified version of therapy that involves the use of play and art to address the issues at hand. Misbehavior in children can be due to a variety of factors and typically involves inner emotional turmoil that children are unable to manage leaving them likely to act out through defiance, opposition, and other forms of misbehavior. Another common factor is a compromised capacity to self-regulate. Self-regulation involves impulse control, frustration tolerance, and the ability to regulate emotions. Therapy provides a place for children to work on sources of emotional turmoil while also developing their capacities to better self-regulate. Children and adolescents who are brought to therapy often behave in a manner more fitting for a younger child. Therapy can help to remove barriers to development allowing for children and adolescents to return to a developmental path leading to functioning at a level that is more in line with their chronological age.

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