Therapy success stories?

[Anonymous]

I think we got lucky. Virtual school during covid basically trashed all DD’s coping strategies, and school and general anxiety and stress just crashed down on her. She finally decided to take us up on the offer of finding someone to talk to.

Started virtually toward the end of 8th, which wasn’t ideal, especially since virtual school was part of the problem, but she gave it her best shot. Once she started high school, they transitioned to in-person, which helped a lot.

They had specific goals they worked on, and I came in for a few minutes at the end of the session once a month to get a debrief (therapist cleared the topics with DD ahead of time) on their progress and next steps. Usually stuff like managing the physical manifestations of anxiety, heading off panic attacks, dealing with social anxiety, and helping her with school issues like overwhelm and task initiation. After a few months, the therapist suggested that we might consider having some testing done for ADHD, to help separate out anxiety from any other issues.

We followed up, got a diagnosis (inattentive ADHD and mild situational anxiety) and started medication. Things really fell into place after that, and she was actually able to implement and stick with all the stuff they’d been working on in therapy.

She did about two years of therapy, starting at twice weekly and tapering down to twice monthly, and everyone agreed it was time to stop about a year ago.

She’s still not exactly a social butterfly, and she’s always getting assignments in at the literal last possible minute, but overall she’s like a different person now. She’s happier and more engaged at school, she’s less exhausted at the end of the day, and she hasn’t had a panic attack in over a year.

I don’t think she could have accessed the tools from the therapist without the meds, but I don’t think the meds would have been nearly enough without the therapy. Now I see her managing her anxiety and drawing her boundaries, conserving her energy and being aware of her needs and limitations. And I see her pushing herself even e we Jen it’s not comfortable, without herring overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree. I don’t think therapy is the answer to everything. Seems like my teen only uses it as a venting session. Not sure I see any change. Therapists are just out there to make money and most are just not very good. Just quacks.

[phone]

[Anonymous]

Both my kids did therapy successfully. My daughter was 6 and had social anxiety that was really impacting her at school. She did play therapy for 2-3 months and the therapist said she didn’t need it anymore. She has had no issues since.

My son did therapy from 9-10 after a rough transition to a new school and rather extreme behavior problems that resulted (partially due to school and partially due to a health condition). He was severely struggling with emotional regulation and impulsivity. First therapist was awful and we fired her after a month. Second therapist was male and knew how to connect with a 10 year old. We set very specific goals for what they needed to address. We saw major improvements over time and the therapist agreed he didn’t need it anymore. We stopped after a year. It’s more than a year later and he is doing very well.

The key to good therapy is having specific goals and someone that is a good fit. Therapy is not a person to tell your problems to.

[Anonymous]

Therapy has to have specific goal(s) and the therapist should be giving "homework" coping skills to try. And it can take more than one coping skill to get results. And it's not a "cure." It's to help deal with the anxiety, depression, etc. And when the end goal is met Therapy ends. It's not supposed to be forever but sometimes other things happen and you have to go back.
It can work if done the right way. Sadly lots of therapists don't make goals first session and treat it like a vent session.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids did therapy successfully. My daughter was 6 and had social anxiety that was really impacting her at school. She did play therapy for 2-3 months and the therapist said she didn’t need it anymore. She has had no issues since.

My son did therapy from 9-10 after a rough transition to a new school and rather extreme behavior problems that resulted (partially due to school and partially due to a health condition). He was severely struggling with emotional regulation and impulsivity. First therapist was awful and we fired her after a month. Second therapist was male and knew how to connect with a 10 year old. We set very specific goals for what they needed to address. We saw major improvements over time and the therapist agreed he didn’t need it anymore. We stopped after a year. It’s more than a year later and he is doing very well.

The key to good therapy is having specific goals and someone that is a good fit. Therapy is not a person to tell your problems to.

+1

[Anonymous]

I’m envious of people who say it helped.
It never dud anything for me and I really wanted it to

[Anonymous]

Therapy is for severe mental health issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:16:37 and we end up later helping our kid buy a used car and justified it to each other since we were saving with not paying for therapy anymore. We didn’t tell our son that.

It was better than any therapist and he spends so much time working on it, detailing it, cleaning it and can drive himself to a job. I’m not telling you to buy your kid a car but sometimes therapy money is better spent elsewhere.

+100. My kid’s therapy money is going to a 1:1 sports coach (at 1/4 the cost!)

[Anonymous]

Yikes. Some dangerous opinions here. Good luck.