A Brief Overview of Mental Therapy for Minors
Therapists can perform one-on-one or group counseling and psychological therapy for children. Mental therapy for minors allows them to help solve and mitigate issues earlier on in life, and potentially prescribe medication if needed.
What is Mental Therapy for Minors?
Mental therapy for minors helps your child express their thoughts and feelings. These activities may include play therapy, talk therapy, and many other avenues to help children work through issues. Therapists may also choose to observe children and parents together and make suggestions for finding different ways to treat the condition.
What is the Youngest Age To Go To Therapy?
How Do Minors Get Diagnosed with Mental Illness?
A mental health professional has to make an in-depth diagnosis when evaluating a child. They might use various techniques to know what is wrong with your child. A mental health professional may gather information from every aspect of your child’s behavioral and emotional functioning and not just the list of behaviors that the parent might find problematic.
Secondly, a clinician can ask questions about the child’s medical history. In other cases, a doctor may use diagnostic tools. These specialized diagnostic tools help give an objective take on a child’s symptoms and behaviors.
The Most Common Mental Disorders in Minors
The most common types of mental disorders affecting children include the following:
ADHD
Behavioral Disorders
Behavioral disorders in children and adolescents are diagnosed as disruptive behavior patterns occurring for at least six months. Behavioral disorders have a variety of signs and symptoms like hyperactivity, attention span issues, impulsive behaviors, defiant or unusual behaviors, etc. The common behavioral disorders include ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder.1
Trauma-Related Disorders
Self-Injury
Anxiety
Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health disorders affecting children and adolescents. Anxiety affects about 7% of minors aged 3 – 17, while depression affects 3% of the same age group.
Anxiety may cause a child to have a challenge with outgrowing fears typical in children. The worries and fears often interfere with home, school, or play activities. Anxiety is primarily diagnosed as overwhelming fear and worry, though it can also cause anger and irritability in children.
Depression
Depression is a disorder that affects the mood of children and adolescents. You might feel hopeless and irritable for an extended time and have an overwhelming sadness. Additionally, it affects your child’s interests, social activities, school work, or relationships.
From time to time, children and adolescents experience emotional ups and downs. While this is perfectly normal in some instances, it is a sign of depression if your child feels this way for a more extended period.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are dangerous conditions relating to persistent eating behaviors that may negatively affect the child’s emotions, health, and ability to participate in critical areas of their lives. Eating disorders are categorized as bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, among other disorders.2
Different Types of Mental Therapy for Minors
The different types of mental therapy for minors can include some of the following treatment methods.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavior therapy uses specific tools that help minors overcome their depression and anxiety. A therapist helps your child refocus their negative behaviors or thinking patterns to more positive ones. CBT is particularly useful in getting to the root cause of the problem and assisting children in facing their worries and fears.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical behavior therapy is a modified CBT that helps adolescents with chronic conditions that may lead to suicide, self-harm, or increased conflict with others. DBT teaches communication to help manage painful emotions and the various resulting behaviors. Therapy focuses on distress tolerance, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
Therapists who work with interpersonal therapy (IPT) offer active non-judgemental treatment to help patients successfully handle challenges and improve their mental health. Therapy might address life stage transition, role disputes, grief, relational conflict, interpersonal shortcomings, and other issues.
Family Therapy
Family therapy helps the family learn how to communicate and interact with one another, improve communication, and support each other more successfully. Family therapy may involve the child along with siblings, parents, and grandparents.
Group Therapy
In group therapy, a therapist may combine several patients and use group dynamics and peer interactions to help accomplish goals. These goals may include improving communication and social skills or increasing understanding of mental health problems or conditions.
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Play Therapy
Play therapy is generally used to help treat various mental health conditions in children. The treatment involves using toys, puppets, blocks, drawings, games, and dolls to help children communicate and identify feelings and emotions.
The therapist observes how the child interacts with the materials or games to further understand and identify themes or patterns explaining the child’s problems.
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy helps the patient to understand how their past experiences affect their current behaviors. A therapist encourages patients to talk about their childhood experiences and relationships to help understand better how to manage unconscious and conscious feelings and thoughts.
Supportive Therapy
Supportive therapy is a form of talk therapy that helps patients face their challenges with more compassion, comfort, and empathy. A therapist will encourage patients to share or vent openly about what they are going through during a session. Afterward, the therapist may offer essential advice on coping or solving what the patient faces.
Supportive therapy works to encourage participants and offer emotional support.
What Happens in Mental Therapy for Minors?
The technique used by a mental health professional to help children or other patients depends entirely on that person’s unique needs. In some instances, the patient may open up and share their feelings and emotions freely, while for other patients, it might be easier to open up while doing other activities. However, mental therapy for minors typically involves the following:
- Talk
- Doing activities/play therapy
- Practicing new skills
- Solving problems
Mental Therapy for Minors in Pacific Beach
In other cases, children can attend the first session with a parent. If they decide that they’ll need to participate in regular sessions, the parent signs a form letting the child attend sessions alone.
Does Insurance Cover Mental Therapy for Minors?
Medicaid may cover mental therapy costs for children if they are enrolled by their guardians in the program. Medicaid covers behavioral health, mental health, and substance use disorder services, including therapy. Medicaid also covers online and in-person, individual, family, and group therapy.
In several cases, Medicare covers kids with disabilities and children under 22 years if they have received Social Security Disability Insurance. Medicare may also cover kids with a legal guardian or parent who receives Social Security retirement benefits or earned Social Security work credits in the previous three years.4
Contact Children's Therapists at Pacific Beach Health
Contact Pacific Beach Health if you notice unusual signs of your children’s behavioral or emotional conditions. While some states might only require one sitting, we are ready to take you through other various therapy sessions. Do not hesitate to reach today for more inquiries on minor therapies.
