Therapy Techniques for Young Troubled Children

Psychotherapy can aid troubled children, helping them to interpret thoughts, feelings, and emotions in a positive and constructive manner. Psychotherapy can also help troubled kids to understand the impact of their behavior. There are several therapeutic techniques in administering psychotherapy procedures that are often used with young troubled children.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT, trains children to comprehend the connection between what they think and feel with the way they behave. Ill thoughts, negative feelings and actions can be overturned by goals and specific strategies that focus on mental and behavioral skills.

  Therapists interact with kids and their families to help design individualized plans, customized to treat children by helping them learn and develop skills that can boost their self-esteem. For example, an aggressive boy who accidentally gets shoved by a playmate interprets it as an intentional thrust and reacts by pushing him into a wall. Cognitive behavior therapy would train the boy in recognizing that his impulsive and negative thoughts geared towards the other boy may not be the right interpretation of that child's actions. The boy could be given practical exercises to help develop the skills necessary to alter his reasoning and to focus on more positive thoughts and behavioral reactions. In other words, cognitive behavior therapy encourages him to think, "Maybe my playmate bumped into me because he didn't see me when he walked by."

Life Story Work & Art Therapy

• Life Story Work allows children to get to know themselves better and make sense of their purpose and their relationships with those around them. Life Story Work is best for adopted children who wish to discover their past and histories in order to understand their current environments. With the help of the therapists, the kids create life maps which interpret the connection between life events and their relationships with the people around them. These maps can also hold their memories, hopes, dreams, and fears. Life Story Work involves tackling life concepts that many troubled kids face, such as identity, loss, and attachment.

  Color or Art therapy helps children express themselves when they cannot verbalize their feelings. Whether it's sketching a landscape or coloring a wall, art therapy soothes and heals kids by allowing them to feel comfortable, safe and away from fear and failure. It also enhances their confidence and self-esteem.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

• EMDR aims to pursue and explore a troubled child's painful memories until he is freed from his emotional attacks. EMDR relies on the child's eye movements to reduce the impact of his painful traumas to his emotions and behavior. This is based on the theory that a child or patient's rapid eye movement when the patient is stimulated may help the therapist process his psychological trauma.