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How does CBT work for kids?
How effective is cognitive behavioral therapy for children & teens?
How effective is CBT for children?
How does CBT work?
What is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)?
What skills can a child learn from CBT?
Aug 11, 2023 · Cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective treatment for many mental health disorders and can be useful for children as young as six. Because of considerations like age and maturity levels, CBT for children and teens needs to be tailored to meet their needs.
- CBT for Panic Disorder
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term method of...
- CBT for Panic Disorder
- Overview
- What is cognitive behavioral therapy?
- How does CBT for children work?
- Conditions that CBT may help
- CBT worksheets for children
- How effective is CBT for kids?
- Finding CBT for a child
- The takeaway
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of talk therapy that can help people of all ages, including younger children and teens. CBT focuses on how thoughts and emotions affect behavior. Your child doesn’t need to have a diagnosed mental health condition to benefit from CBT.
Therapy usually involves an agreed upon goal and a set number of sessions. The therapist will help your child learn to replace negative thought patterns with more productive ones. Through role-playing and other methods, your child can practice alternate ways of handling stressful situations.
CBT is a form of talk therapy designed to help people recognize unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and learn how to change them. Therapy focuses on the present and the future, rather than on the past.
While CBT isn’t designed to “cure” conditions such as ADHD, it can be used to complement other therapies and to help improve specific symptoms.
CBT for kids has practical everyday applications. This therapy can help your child understand the negativity of their thought patterns and learn how to replace them with more positive ones. Discovering new ways of looking at things helps a child learn how to respond differently and improve rather than worsen stressful situations.
This type of therapy can give your child realistic strategies to improve their lives in the here and now. Once these strategies become habit, the new skills can follow them throughout their lives.
CBT can help children learn to control:
•self-defeating thoughts
Usually, a parent or caregiver, the child, and a therapist will discuss goals and develop a treatment plan.
CBT involves a structured approach to solving problems in a specified number of sessions. It can be as few as six sessions or as many as 20 or more, depending on the child and the particular goals.
While CBT is a type of talk therapy, it’s so much more than talk. The therapist will work to provide tangible ways for your child to take control and empower themselves. They will teach skills that can be put into practice immediately.
Your child can have CBT alone or in combination with medications or any other therapies they might need. The treatment plan can be adapted to meet cultural or regional differences.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Children with ADHD may have a hard time sitting still and may engage in impulsive behaviors. While there are medications to treat this disorder, sometimes they’re not the first or only choice of treatment. Even with medications, some children have persistent symptoms. Research shows that for some teens, adding CBT works better than medication alone.
Anxiety and mood disorders
CBT has been shown to be an effective treatment for children and adolescents with anxiety and mood disorders. A 2015 review found “substantial support” for CBT as an effective first-line treatment for children with anxiety disorders. Parents may have a role to play, too. A 2010 study found that CBT with active parent involvement showed promise as an effective therapy for those ages 3 to 7 with anxiety. The study involved only 37 children, but they showed significant improvement in an average of 8.3 treatment sessions.
Anxiety with autism spectrum disorder
Many adolescents with high functioning autism spectrum disorder have anxiety. In a 2015 study, a CBT program was designed for preteens with autism spectrum disorders plus clinical anxiety. The program focused on: •exposure •challenging irrational beliefs •behavioral support provided by caregivers •treatment elements specific to autism spectrum disorder The small study involved only 33 children from 11 to 15 years old. Parents reported a positive effect of CBT on the severity of anxiety symptoms.
Explaining the idea of CBT to younger children must be done in simple terms. To make things easier, some therapists use worksheets to help children visualize certain concepts.
For example, a worksheet may have drawings with blank thought bubbles for the child to fill out. The therapist may ask the child what the person in the picture is thinking about. Worksheets may include stop signs, to help the child recognize signs that they’re about to lose control.
CBT is an evidence-based practice shown to be effective for a variety of issues.
Meta-analyses show that up to 60 percent of youth treated with CBT for anxiety disorders recover with significant decrease in symptoms following treatment. Follow-up studies of children treated in community mental health clinics show that those recovery rates are likely to continue at 4 years post-treatment.
Studies show that many adolescents with ADHD who received CBT had a significant reduction in symptom severity.
Among children with PTSD who receive individual trauma-focused CBT, there can be a great improvement of symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. In one study, 92 percent of participants no longer met criteria for PTSD after CBT. This gain was still seen at a 6-month follow-up.
While there are many therapists trained in CBT, it’s important to look for one who has experience working with children. Here are some things to look for:
•Credentials. Look for a licensed counselor, family therapist, clinical social worker, psychologist, or psychiatrist. Licensure indicates a professional has met the legal standards to practice in your state.
•Experience. Look for a professional who has worked with children or adolescents.
•Transparency. Look for a professional willing to state goals and offer a treatment plan after an initial assessment or session with you and your child.
tips for finding a qualified mental health professional
Here are a few ways to locate mental health professionals with experience in CBT for kids:
CBT can help children understand how thoughts and emotions affect behavior and how changing their thoughts and emotions can change this behavior and the way they feel.
CBT is a safe, effective therapy that can help kids with a wide range of conditions and concerns.
Jan 8, 2024 · How Does CBT for Kids Work? CBT works on the idea that our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are all related and can have an impact on each other. When children feel anxious or low in mood, it can get easy to get stuck in a cycle of negative or unhelpful thoughts.
Oct 19, 2021 · Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help children to reframe how they identify, interpret and evaluate their emotional and behavioral reactions to negative experiences.
Feb 11, 2021 · Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, also known as CBT, is one of the most effective forms of therapy for children with anxiety. There’s a mountain of research behind it to prove that it helps kids with a variety of anxiety-related problems, from tantrums and acting-out behavior to worrying and sleep difficulties.
Aug 17, 2023 · How Does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Work? In essence, CBT empowers children and teens to take control of their own thoughts and emotions, enabling them to overcome their negative beliefs and emotions.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children and adolescents are typically short-term treatments (i.e., often between six and 20 sessions) that focus on teaching youth and/or their parents specific skills.
