One of the challenges many children face is maltreatment at the hands of their parents, siblings, caregivers, and those placed in a position of trust. This trust is violated and the child has lingering memories and feelings they can’t shake. Everywhere they go the experiences continue to follow and haunt them.
These situations were often overlooked in the past and considered to be personal. Society is becoming more actively involved now and demanding that something must be done to help these children. The children are removed from the home but struggle with the lingering psychological effects.
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is a ground-breaking solution that is helping children. It is used at certain times to have the greatest impact on the child. Here are some insights on TF-CBT.
What is TF-CBT?
TF-CBT is designed to work with children, adolescents, parents, and caregivers. The focus is on overcoming upsetting situations that happened to the child or teenager. Your therapist will discuss these events, the beliefs, and the feelings connected with them. They will use a thought pattern interrupt to change your beliefs and feelings connected to various events.
Parents and caregivers that were not abusive learn how to cope as well. They are haunted by what they saw and feel guilty about not doing enough. We teach them to forgive themselves and how to change these emotions. Everyone learns the skills to grow from these events and become better people because of them.
When is TF-CBT Recommended?
TF-CBT is recommended in those situations when the child and their parents have gone through abuse. It focuses on taking a short-term interventionist approach by facing directly those situations that are causing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
We use several tools to have the greatest impact on our patients including
· Psychoeducation: This teaches the victim about the normal reactions to their experiences. We help them to reduce their feelings of guilt and regret.
· Coping skills: We teach things to help you cope such as mindfulness, acceptance, deep breathing, and identifying and redirecting thoughts.
· Reconditioning your responses: This is when we will revisit the event using your newly acquired skills. We teach you how to deal with different triggers and the best avenues to address your issues.
· Cognitive processing: You will learn how to develop the skills to change unhelpful thoughts and take better control of your emotions.
· Rebuilding trust: The process of dealing with past issues requires rebuilding trust and relationships. We work with you to restore your faith in each other.
These tools transform your situation. We recommend this therapy for children and encourage you to find out how it can help you.
Get the Help You Need Now
TF-CBT is the therapy that will address your child’s mental health issues. It teaches them the skills they need to come to terms with what happened and effectively move on. We tackle these issues head-on and introduce ways to cope with and grow from them.
Related reading
Have questions? Contact Serene Trails Therapy for a free phone consultation.
Need help right now? Call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. Serene Trails Therapy is not a crisis service, and email, text messages and contact forms are not monitored for emergencies.