What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For?

Cognitive behavioural therapy is used to assist people who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health, such as anxiety, perfectionism, procrastination, stress, obsessive compulsive issues, anger and mood difficulties or depression.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: How It Works

Your child’s psychologist will work with them to cover a range of areas after a thorough assessment that identifies their requirements, strengths, preferences, and goals. You may also be involved to learn how best to support your child. This may involve an initial period of weekly individual sessions, followed by a tapering of frequency until they enter the maintenance phase where the focus is on preventing falling back into the difficulties previously experienced.

CBT for your child may include targets such as assisting your child to:

• Be aware of their physiological symptoms, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and identify how these interact with one another.
• Learn how difficult emotions evolve and why it sometimes may be hard to improve them without support
• Acknowledge unhelpful thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and adopt more helpful responses which may include challenging unhelpful thinking, behavioural experiments and creating action plans.
• Acquire techniques that may support how they move through the world, such as mindfulness and problem-solving strategies
• Develop their confidence and strengths in naturalistic settings

Answering Your Questions About CBT

Should my child be a certain age to participate in cognitive behavioural therapy?
Cognitive behavioural therapy is typically suitable to be delivered one on one for children aged seven or older. This does not mean younger children cannot benefit from cognitive behavioural treatment, however this typically involves working primarily with the parent.

Is CBT the same as masking?
No, these are two separate things. CBT is a form of psychological treatment, while masking is where a person ‘masks’ their true feelings and behaviours in order to ‘fit in’ with others. They may do this consciously (knowing they’re doing it) or unconsciously.

We believe that encouraging a child to behave more ‘typically’ may be exhausting, upsetting, and unfair. CBT may support social skills and behavioural responses, but it does not focus on making a child behave in a certain way that is not natural for them. Instead, it is about supporting them in understanding what they feel and responding to those emotions in ways that aim to help them navigate the world around them positively.

Can I be involved in my child’s treatment?
Your child’s psychologist will discuss with you if they recommend you be involved and how much. If your child is quite young, you are likely to be more involved in their therapy, whereas if your child is in their teens, we may work with them more independently.

How can I help my child outside of the clinic?
Your child’s psychologist may suggest you attend your child’s sessions or a separate appointment so that you can learn ways to support your child’s therapy in their everyday life and routine.

Why Visit The Young Mind Clinic?

At the Young Mind Clinic, we are passionate about providing high quality care to children and teenagers who are experiencing difficulties that are impacting their lives. We are dedicated to supporting you and your child towards a better life with our: