Kid refusing therapy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into the research how effective therapy is. For some specific treatments it can be effective but too many times it makes things worse.

Ruminating for an hour a week on the negative aspects of your life, often makes things worse. The therapist being supportive often tries to assign blame for the issue /problem to someone else often a parent.

Entirely agree. Therapy is so, so, oversold to Americans. I'm not saying she doesn't need it, OP, but I'm saying: please don't default to it. There are many ways of helping your child.

If you can describe the problems a little bit more, maybe we can actually help instead of spouting useless generalities

[Anonymous]

Why are you insisting she needs therapy and why is she insisting she doesn’t. At 12, she’s old enough to have a say. No, you can’t force her to go or take away her electronics. Forcing therapy is not going to be productive.

We tried many therapists, took a long break, tried more and ultimately stopped completely when my kid was 14 and said no more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look into the research how effective therapy is. For some specific treatments it can be effective but too many times it makes things worse.

Ruminating for an hour a week on the negative aspects of your life, often makes things worse. The therapist being supportive often tries to assign blame for the issue /problem to someone else often a parent.

Entirely agree. Therapy is so, so, oversold to Americans. I'm not saying she doesn't need it, OP, but I'm saying: please don't default to it. There are many ways of helping your child.

If you can describe the problems a little bit more, maybe we can actually help instead of spouting useless generalities

Every country has therapy -- it's just that poorer countries seek therapeutic advice from parents/elders, etc., and don't pay for it. American's don't talk to elders in that way, so they have to pay people to listen to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into the research how effective therapy is. For some specific treatments it can be effective but too many times it makes things worse.

Ruminating for an hour a week on the negative aspects of your life, often makes things worse. The therapist being supportive often tries to assign blame for the issue /problem to someone else often a parent.

It may be “oversold” to the average person however so many Americans have serious mental health issues. I would not write it off like that. Suicide will always be a leading cause of death in teens and young adults. Not saying therapy can fix this but it’s certainly very helpful for some. Americans have such an issue with binge eating (nearly FIFTY PERCENT of Americans are obese) and other unhealthy behaviors that could be helped by therapy as well.