Before Time

Attending to Your Child’s Coping Mechanisms Effectively

The appearance of humanistic therapy has facilitated people to be more recognizing of professional help in terms of hurdling challenges they face in their personal development and growth. Sand Tray Therapy is a dynamic type of psychotherapy that lets clients express their innermost emotions by means of metaphor and symbol. This lets more people to examine therapy as a practical choice to help them cope with various issues; parents in particular can now be assured that more methods of therapy has been developed and are even being developed which are very helpful for children. These days, children are exposed to more stressors because of the changes in the social atmosphere at school and the rising demands of school work, as well as the strain of family life. To identify if your child will need a therapist or if it looks like something that can be outgrown in the future, there are a few recommended things to look out for:

• The ability for normal functions has been shortened or greatly weaken. Some children find carrying their feeding bottle to school a soothing way to deal with stress of beginning school, but if this continues to an age where this isn’t considered appropriate anymore and further slows down his or her ability to relate to people his or her own age.
• Some families aren’t able to function normally moreover because of a child’s coping mechanism. Of course, since your child stays with you and your lives are connected, it’s impossible not to be affected in your child’s coping mechanisms; when this comes to a point where you are unable to function, when your job is being put at risk, and when you are depressed of beneficial activities that normal people gain from, it may be time to seek professional help to understand the situation better.
• Determine whether the child’s coping mechanism is a danger to him or herself or to the people near the child. Children who talk about hurting themselves, who often gag about committing suicide or talk about it when they are mad or provoked, or who resort to terrorizing smaller children at school may be handling with emotional issues that they cannot verbalize effectively, much less deal with.

All of the points above are grounds for anxiety, but there are still some that were not pointed out and some severe dysfunctions that would need mmediate intervention with a psychiatrist. Some parents think that it’s a phase that will pass if they just ignore the child’s coping mechanisms, but it’s safe to say that this isn’t at all times factual, and that children sometimes really do need skilled help to be proficient to cope better with situations they don’t know how to deal with independently.

It’s a bad idea to ignore a child’s dysfunctional coping mechanism when you notice that it has greatly hampered his or her development as a person. There are a lot of methods to address your child’s issues, and there are many therapies that are planned especially for the needs of children. One such therapy is play therapy where a therapist monitors how a child performs at playtime and which toys he or she plays with to determine what underlying emotional issues the child is coping with.

It’s also very important to emphasize that nothing will substitute the parents’ or guardians’ participation in a child’s therapy sessions. These adults will occupy the most influence in a child’s life and it would be beneficial if parents and guardians can understand what’s going on in the child’s life so that they can better discuss it.

Before Time and Space