How to know when your child needs counseling ?

Are you worried your child is suffering from anxiety, depression, or other emotional issues? Does your child have problems at school, either academic or social? Are they not the happy child you once knew? If this is the case, then your child may benefit from mental health services. According to a recent study, approximately 25% of children in America suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. However, 20% of these children suffer at a sub-clinical level and hence do not receive the therapeutic services they need.

Understanding how emotional issues affect your child’s wellbeing will help you determine how to best help your child. As it relates to mental health, for children there are four common areas where we see it show up. Let’s take a look at these four areas:

Schools:

School plays a crucial part in every child’s life. Developmental tasks involving attending school can affect children academically, emotionally, or socially. Various learning disabilities and attention disorders can affect a child’s ability to learn at school which in turn impacts children emotionally. Furthermore, many social factors such as social skills can affect a child’s peer relationships and ability to stay out of trouble at school. If your child has issues either academically, emotionally, or socially at school, mental health counseling or assessment may be of great benefit for your child.

Bonding with adults:

Another important area of functioning for your child is the ability to get along with adults. It is important that your child can comply with adult demands and listen to parents, teachers, and other authority figures in your child’s life. Therapy is often very useful in managing defiant behavior from your child and teaching parents strategies to help their child succeed in this area.

Mood:

Very often parents miss the signs that suggest their child may be suffering from a mood disorder. A common sign of anxiety in children is if you notice that your child worries about many things. Furthermore children with anxiety typically are very critical of themselves, and have a strong desire to please others. Another common mood disorder for children is depression. Signs of depression in children include sadness most of the day, changes in appetite, more cranky or irritable than normal, problems sleeping, or refusal to go school. Psychologists are especially qualified in treating mood disorders, and can offer your child much relief.

Bonding with peers:

Children may also struggle to make substantial peer relationships. Some children struggle in this area due to aggressive behavior and lack of social skills related to boundaries. Other children find it difficult to make friends because of social anxiety and shyness. Either end of the spectrum can drastically affect the way a child perceives themselves and overall wellbeing

According to many clinical studies, efficient psychotherapy can help children struggling in these areas. Psychotherapy offers a way to cope with the academic and psychological issues., as well as offers parenting strategies as well. A capable psychologist can certainly aid in helping your child find relief in these areas.
About the Author Steven L. McLendon is an author who writes informative articles on Verdant Oak Behavioral Health and other topics related to mental health services.

What is a Psychologist?

Psychologists are mental health professionals that work within many spheres in the healthcare world. Psychologists can be found working in research, hospital, private practice, and many other settings. The main focus of all psychologist is to study the mental, emotional, and behavioral processes of humans. Psychologists are required to obtain doctorate level education either as Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Furthermore subsequent licensure is required for psychologists seeking to treat clients clinically.

In your search to find the right psychologist it is important to understand what types of psychologist are out there, and how they may be able to help you. People seek a psychologist for a variety of issues including stress, relationship problems, issues at school, career problems, depression, anxiety, and many more. The right psychologist may be able to help you with your specific need, utilizing their expertise and training. If you are looking for a psychologist in the Claremont area, this article will help clarify the different types of psychologists within the field of psychology.

Here is a description of a few different types of psychologists to help you with your search:

Counseling Psychologist:

Counseling psychologists have training and experience focused on the assisting individuals in their personal and interpersonal functioning across a lifespan, according to the Society of Counseling Psychology. Psychologists specializing in counseling psychology typically do not work with severe mental illness; however focus on helping individuals better their everyday functioning. Examples of areas that counseling psychologists’ focus on in therapy include occupational, relationship, emotional, and developmental concerns.  Therefore counseling psychologists primarily use psychotherapy as means to help those suffering from mental and emotional distress.

Clinical Psychologists:

Clinical psychologists like counseling psychologists, use psychotherapy and treatment planning to help people cope with mental, emotional, and relationship problems that disturb their everyday functioning. However clinical psychologists also incorporate other interventions into treatment to aid client’s treatment such as assessment and testing. According the American Psychological Association, clinical psychologist are adept to provide “consultation to agencies and communities; training, education and supervision; and research-based practice” in addition to counseling services.Furthermore, clinical psychologists can be found in a wide range of settings from hospitals to private practice, and are qualified to treat severe mental illness in addition to more common emotional issues.

Educational Psychologists:

Educational psychologists work within the educational system to address how individuals learn, learning disabilities, giftedness, and instructional strategies. Educational psychologists mostly serve children, adolescents, and young adults who have learning complexities, social problems or emotional issues. They are equipped to help students and teachers with issues surrounding learning aptitudes and other concerns related to school performance. Furthermore, they teach teachers or instructors how to offer a more learning conducive atmosphere, particularly for kidswith learning disabilities or giftedness.

In addition to these there are several other types of psychologists including neuropsychologists,research psychologists, and forensic psychologists to name a few. In order to find the right psychologist for you, it is important to know what each type of psychologist specializes in and how they will approach helping you. Hope this information helps you on your journey to find the right psychologist for you.

About the Author Steven L. McLendon is an author who writes informative articles on Verdant Oak Behavioral Health and other topics related to psychologist in the Claremont.