CBT Questions

[dtrain5]

It's clear that my son could benefit from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He gets into negative thought spirals and has a negative self-image. I worry about how this will affect him long-term. For those of you who have found CBT therapists for your child, I have four questions:

What age did you start, and would you have started earlier/later?

How did you locate your therapist, and how determine that they were a good fit to teach CBT?

Have you used online CBT therapy (we are in a mostly rural area so therapist selection is small)?

Have you found it to be helpful for them?

Thanks!

[TouretteADHDMamaBear]

My daughter is 9yrs old and she is in therapy. Her ADHD was a bit tricky keeping her attention but she is doing better now that we adjusted her medication, and have found it beneficial for her. She loves going to her sessions. We located her therapist through our insurance and then I just researched the different providers and narrowed it down. Psychology Today is a great site to find a provider. You put in your insurance and location and it will show you different therapist and you can read about each one. I’m not sure about online sessions as my daughter goes in person. I know based on the severity of her adhd online would probably not work but I don’t know your son’s situation… maybe it could. Hope this helps!

[KaliMaMa]

I asked for a referral from my child's pediatrician at their 6 year well-child checkup, and we began a few months after that. We used the pediatric behavioral health provider that was recommended/used by the pediatrician, but your options for therapist will also be limited by who is in network with your insurance provider (if going through insurance). At my child's age (6) it was mostly "parental" therapy, as that provider didn't do much "talk therapy" with children that young. I will say, however, that they did give me a lot of help and support in finding strategies to deal with/combat the negative behaviors at home (we dealt with a lot of violent emotional outbursts, as well as negative self-talk). The strategies they gave me helped a lot, so I saw that provider for a relatively brief period of time. That being said, we are getting another referral in order to talk about getting an official ADHD diagnosis for my child (now age 7), as there are still challenges, and are currently in a bit of a behavior regression (due to uncontrollable life stresses).

I suggest starting with your pediatrician to see who they recommend or generally use in this situation. If you want to go in with options, you could go onto your insurance company's website to search for an in-network provider. Once you have provider names there are all sorts of websites that will show your reviews of that provider, which can help you make a decision. It may also be a trial and error process to find a therapist who meshes well with you child (I, personally, went through several therapists before I found one that was comfortable for my own therapy needs). As far as online therapy goes, I use it for myself most of the time, just so that it's easier to fit therapy into my schedule, and I love it. Depending on the age of your child, however (and whether or not the provider is seeing them or doing "parental therapy" with you), you may need to do in-person visits.

I believe the "parental therapy" helped a lot, because it changed how I parented those situations. We saw a big decrease in the amount of negative behaviors, and have been able to apply the strategies we were given to other behaviors and aspects of life as well. For myself, CBT is helping challenge my own views of myself and giving me the tools to better cope with negative self-talk/image. If your child is old enough for the therapist to suggest CBT for your child as opposed to simply speaking with and supporting you and your parenting, I highly recommend it! I wish I had understood my own problems earlier and been able to get that help sooner (rather than in my 30s!).

I hope this helps!

[65mustang]

My son is 11 and we started therapy about 6 months ago. I definitely would have started earlier if we knew about it. We looked at the site Psychology Today for a therapist. We wanted in person and have someone local. He was very resistant at first but we gave him a reward for going. eventually he didn't need the reward. once in a while he complains but goes. He likes his therapist. It's slow going but helpful. We found that online can work with the right therapist, we did this during COVID. Seems like this may be your only option so you should definitely try. If the therapist can build trust with your child it will definitely help. Hang in there, it's not easy but seems to be improving over time. Good luck! happy to help.