It is no surprise that counselors, family therapy experts, and other mental health professionals often have issues with talk or group therapy sessions, especially if it involves patients in their adolescent years. These individuals believe that talking with a mental health provider is a waste of time, energy, and effort. The truth is that a session with a mental health professional is very beneficial for the youth. Yes, the best online advice can already be searched through the internet, but it is still advisable to seek face-to-face consultations with a medical health professional. When you’re feeling down most of the time and you feel a heavy weight of emotion on your shoulder, it is not enough when you just confide and talk with your friends, parents, or family. If the feeling is persistent and eventually becomes destructive, you must visit a professional. Don’t let it linger for too long. Let your professional mental care provider know. In this article, we have compiled several occasions when kids visit their mental healthcare provider.
Top Reasons Teens Go To Therapy – Here’s Why
Reasons Why Teens Go To Therapy
What are the reasons teens go to therapy? Teen therapy can provide teens facing psychological health problems and legal problems or who struggle with skill deficits, self-confidence, sexual identity, and romantic relationships with self-awareness. Therapy can also increase health resilience and reduce the impact a traumatic event has on a teen’s life like a loss of a loved family member or a close friend. It is important to seek help when dealing with mental health and legal problems, as they can have serious consequences if not addressed properly. Teen therapy or teen counseling is also beneficial in helping boost a teen’s self-esteem and confidence levels. This type of therapy for teens can help teens experience relief from minor issues and gain life-lasting skills.
There are many types of therapy for cognitive behavioral, families & individuals, dialectical, and many others aimed at helping individuals with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and other mental problems they are going through. Aside from that, kids of therapy are also available such as online therapy, group therapy, and even family therapy.
That explains why most experts can’t seem to accomplish their treatment sessions and are constantly worrying when teens seek therapy. But the issue is not entirely exclusive since some professionals also commit mistakes in giving professional medical advice. So when something goes off, it’s not always because of teens’ behavioral problems. It is essential to realize that counseling works hand-in-hand with the patient and the professional therapist — the medical advice won’t do much if the patient himself is not motivated enough to apply it. Read more about the reasons teens go to treatment therapy.
Reasons For Therapy In Teens
Understand and communicate privacy on mental health issues. Often in most cases, counselors cannot establish a good relationship with teens because teens struggle to understand and talk about a variety of issues. Many teens even present with aggressive behavior issues and mood swings, and this becomes a serious problem when they seek therapy. Furthermore, counselors make mistakes by assuming that all adolescents are flexible and can easily adapt to the changing environment or a traumatic event.
However, a teen’s life should not be taken for granted. While some of them are quite mature and capable of acknowledging their fast-paced involvement, others have self-confidence issues and still need to learn skills to figure out the state of their well-being. Also, teens are prone to peer pressure and don’t always make the right decisions, this is why they often resort to alcohol abuse, underage drinking, or even self-harm. Counselors can be guilty of not letting a teen cope in his own time, worsening his medical condition. It could be an effective treatment method if the counselor allows for a deep understanding of why teens seek professional help.
Again, in most instances, some counselors live up to the idea that their patients should comply with the procedure of counseling, that regardless of age and sexual orientation, everyone should:
1) Express their thoughts and feelings about their mental disorder and be honest about them.
2) Spend more time talking about self-esteem issues, school problems, relationship issues, etc. regardless if the information is significant for the process or not.
3) Commit to the treatment plan that counselors prepare without understanding the reason for their psychological health condition, behavior problems, academic failure, or ultimately why they seek therapy.
4) Comply with the requirements, particularly with early intervention, despite not getting the best out of the counseling session. Some counselors think that teenagers are capable of doing things when instructed to them. They don’t realize that, unlike adults, a teen’s problems can be as complicated as adults’ problems as well.
Therapy For Self-Esteem In Teens
Unfortunately, in some counseling sessions for behavior problems or mood disorders, when the counselors feel like they are not getting any possible outcome or do not see any future advancement with their individual therapy sessions, they end up quitting after a few sessions. As a result, some counselors are unable to help the teen learn new social skills and get over the traumatic events he has gone through. These counselors fail to motivate their teen patients to acquire treatment and get an accurate diagnosis for their mental illness. Hence, their self-confidence is still low, and their anxiety disorders have not been alleviated or improved. Sadly, it is not because they can’t, but because they, too, get exhausted and pressured.
Yes, there is no point in blaming these professional experts since they are also human. However, choosing the field requires more than just accomplishing the instant result. Counselors fail because they believe that sacrificing their time, effort, and energy is unfair when the process gets too daunting. In the case of a young adolescent tried for sexual assault, for example, and diagnosed with anxiety disorder, substance abuse, and serious self-esteem issues. The substance abuse counselor must help the teen learn how to decrease his intense anxiety through various techniques. It is not easy, though, as many teens suffering from substance abuse issues have more serious problems and have failing grades in school. If the counselor is not strong-willed and committed, then he may refer this patient to another counselor or recommend residential treatment.
One of the key components of mental wellness is going to therapy. Therapy can help children and teens identify underlying worries that could put them at higher risk for mental disorders, social problems, and trouble if left untreated. Stress and anxiety, if left unaddressed, can lead to more serious psychological problems like depression or substance abuse. Going to therapy is important in order to prevent minor issues from becoming more serious in a sense and to benefit everyday life.
Establish Connection Among Them
There are some cases in counseling where teens feel uncomfortable and insecure (due to low self-esteem) whenever they are with their counselors. Actually, there is a reason behind that. Most of them struggle with anxiety disorders due to bullying and peer pressure. Sometimes, they often get stuck with different ideas, and their reality seems different from everyone else. When counselors fail to establish a connection with these young adolescents, they get caught up in the negative approach. The problem with that is due to the range of individuals that counselors often talk to. The latest evidence-based research suggests that since most of the time, they communicate openly with adults, counselors sometimes struggle to deal with teens who have low self-esteem. As a result, they copy the adult counseling process and test if it will work with their teen patients.
Recognize Different Developmental Periods
Another issue with counseling that not everybody understands is the different developmental periods required for healing and recovery. Some counselors make mistakes when they assume mentally and emotionally unstable adolescents who went to counseling will immediately recover from substance abuse issues or other problems. But that is an obvious mistake since not all teenagers can fully grasp the process. Some counselors are intolerant that they can’t wait for their adolescent patients to get better and pass them to another healthcare provider stating that their condition is “severe.” Sadly, some counselors wouldn’t like to spend more days, weeks, and years with some of their patients, believing it to be an unfavorable situation.
Therapy can be an important step in managing mental health symptoms. By talking to a professional therapist, you can identify underlying issues that may have caused problematic behaviors and work towards resolving them in adulthood. Other reasons include the fact that therapy is beneficial for recognizing the root causes of any bad things that might be happening in life and developing normal ways to cope with them more effectively.
Develop Perspective And A Healthier Lifestyle Within A Family System
Counseling is a method of figuring out ways to cope with life stressors accompanying different emotional and mental struggle types and helps teens and adults deal with life issues. The whole idea of mental health counseling is sharing ordeals with someone knowledgeable about the coping mechanisms that are somewhat unavailable for the teen patients’ understanding. Some counselors do not intend to look beyond the teenagers’ struggles and would back off a little bit if it concerns family involvement. Not all counselors are willing to take risks in understanding their adolescent patients’ family systems.
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