Consultations with a child psychologist and child psychotherapy Child psychotherapy is a type of psychological assistance for children and adolescents to solve a wide variety of problems that may concern both the children themselves and their parents. Why do you turn to a child psychologist or psychotherapist? The reason for contacting may be: disturbances in the emotional state of the child - frequent mood changes, high anxiety, fears, stuttering, tics, enuresis, sleep disorders; behavioral disorders - aggressiveness, disobedience, hysterics; learning problems; difficulties in communication with peers; conflictual relationships in the family, divorce, loss of loved ones. The first meetings with a child psychologist are diagnostic and, as a rule, are carried out jointly with the parents. After that, the form of further work with the child is discussed with the parents. This could be individual sessions with the child, joint meetings with parents, or group psychotherapy. Regardless of the proposed form of work, the focus in child psychotherapy is always directed at the child, taking into account his individual abilities and characteristics of his psyche. Features of child psychotherapy: This is cooperation and parallel advisory work with parents. The goal of child psychotherapy: - to help the child cope with emotional discomfort, gain faith in himself and his strengths, master a sense of control and become more responsible, relying on himself, learn to understand himself and others; - help parents better understand their child, his needs and desires. The most frequently asked questions: When is a child brought to a psychotherapist? How and how long does the work take place? Will the psychotherapist raise the child, since the parents could not do this? The child spends a lot of time with the therapist. Isn't this education? How does a therapist communicate with a baby or child who doesn't even speak yet? Can parents in many cases cope with their children's problems themselves, even very complex ones? When is a child brought to a psychotherapist? Answer: Most often this happens at the moment when parents cease to understand their child. Suddenly, a mother or father notices that their son or daughter is behaving somehow differently, not as usual, the parents get the impression that the behavior of the child or teenager is meaningless. First, the parents try to figure it out themselves and, if this fails, then They are looking for someone who will help them understand their son or daughter, someone who will be the third person who will become an intermediary between them for some time. How and for how long does the work take place? Answer: The number of meetings per week, as well as the duration of the course, vary from person to person. How many times a child will visit a psychotherapist is decided together with the parents of the child or teenager. And only after 3-4 diagnostic consultations, during which the psychotherapist determines the causes of the disorder and decides what form of therapy is needed for the child or adolescent. Much depends on the tasks to be solved during therapeutic work, on various circumstances, for example, on the ability of parents to bring the child. Also, of course, the age of the child matters: depending on the problem, this can be 1 or 2 meetings a week, if the child is under 10 years old. Moreover, if the child is from several months to three years old, then the entire session or part of it is carried out together with mom or dad. If this is a teenager, then there may be one meeting every two weeks. The duration of the session is 40 minutes for children and 50 minutes for teenagers. There are cases when diagnostic consultations are quite enough, and then parents independently understand the problems of their children. The psychotherapist often only accompanies the parents, helping them and their children go through crisis stages in the children’s lives, in this case the frequency of meetings can be once every one or two months. Will the psychotherapist raise the child since the parents could not do this? Answer: No. A psychotherapist does not replace a child’s father and mother; they were and remain the main people in the children’s lives, they bear responsibility for them..