Play therapy vs PCIT vs family therapy

[Anonymous]

My child (5) has impulse control issues and anxiety. Looking for therapy to help with these but confused about best approach. Pediatrician hasn't been helpful and more just whatever we decide they will support and write a recommendation for... Can someone help me understand the differences (other than the obvious) and which one may be right?

[Anonymous]

PCIT is more targetted towards parents behavior. Personally, I prefer TBRI

[Anonymous]

We looked and hard a very hard time finding PCIT providers. When we did, there was a huge waitlist. We ended up getting on the list and in the meantime starting with a very qualified therapist who mostly did play therapy (mine was a little older) and also met with us as the parents periodically to consider ways to parent to address his challenges.

For us, that situation ended up working pretty well, and by the time we got a spot in PCIT, the therapist felt it might be overwhelming for him to do both, so we ended up not doing it. He is now a bit older, so I don't think PCIT would be the right fit for us. But I have heard very good things about it, and at that age, I would definitely seek it out as an option.

As the PP said, PCIT is more about parent training. You interact with your child and get some real-time recs on how to help. If a lot of the issues are at home, this will be particularly important. If a lot are at school, this may still help but might be less helpful.

PCIT is also pretty time-bound. I think you do it for 3 or 6 months or something. Play therapy could go longer and be a little less intensive. At this age for your kid, I probably wouldn't really do family therapy outside of you and your spouse doing therapy together to work on parenting.

[Anonymous]

Not sure with impulsivity any therapy will work since it is really hard for an impulsive kid to think though the strategies before acting.

Once my adhd kid started medication all his anxiety disappeared. I think he knew it was hard to focus and he missed things or knew eventually he would get in trouble because if impulsivity.

[Anonymous]

Play therapy doesn’t have any evidentiary basis. At 5, the therapy really does have to be focused on the parents rather than the child and is broadly called Parent Management Training. PCIT is generally for pretty serious disruptive behaviors or lack of parenting skills. But there are lots of other varieties of Parent Management Training you can access. Look for a therapist specifically trained in it.

[Anonymous]

Impulse control= parenting work will really be the most beneficial.
Anxiety= SPACE parenting