Christian Counseling For Teens

3 Benefits of Group Therapy for Teens Struggling with Anxiety or Depression

May 8th, 2024|Anxiety, Christian Counseling For Teens, Depression, Featured, Group Counseling|

If you or someone you love is struggling with anxiety or depression, a treatment plan that includes group therapy for teens can significantly help. While it can be scary to attend your first group therapy session, there are some benefits to be gained in group therapy that are more difficult to achieve in individual counseling. Group therapy for teens can provide a broader context for individuals who struggle with depression or anxiety. What is depression or anxiety? Depression in teens occurs when a teen’s emotional state makes everyday life overwhelming. Teens may lose interest in hobbies they once enjoyed, may feel sad or lonely much of the time, and may have difficulty engaging with others because of feeling isolated. It is not your fault, nor is it something you can overcome by your decision-making or strong will. Depression is a mental illness for which the cause is unknown, but some of the possible contributors include brain chemistry, genetics, learned thought patterns, hormonal shifts, trauma, or a combination of these. The good news is that targeted treatment can help you or your loved one feel better. Depression can be a comorbidity of anxiety disorders, too, but it doesn’t have to be. Anxiety disorders range in both spectrum and sensitivity. Social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder are all types of anxiety. Anxiety prohibits individuals from functioning well in everyday activities, such as school, social situations, friendships, or other relationships. They may feel afraid, worried, unusually fixated on something specific, or have a sense of dread that something bad is going to happen to them or someone they love. Anxiety must be diagnosed by a trained psychologist and can make life difficult for you and your loved ones if there isn’t an active diagnosis and treatment plan to follow. [...]

Comments Off on 3 Benefits of Group Therapy for Teens Struggling with Anxiety or Depression

5 Symptoms of OCD in Children

December 30th, 2023|Christian Counseling for Children, Christian Counseling For Teens, Family Counseling, Featured, OCD|

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is debilitating and causes great distress to those suffering from it. It is one of the most common mental disorders. Essentially, it involves repetitive thoughts (obsessions) that must be satiated with repeated rituals (compulsions). This is especially true of OCD in children. While the exact cause of the disorder is unknown, research studies on pediatric OCD highlight factors like inflammatory damage due to certain childhood infections, prescription drug-induced structural changes in the brain, and environment or parenting styles, among others. Symptoms of OCD also develop along with other psychiatric or neurodevelopmental conditions. Symptoms of OCD in children. While it can be extremely frustrating for a parent to see their child exhibit symptoms of OCD, it is important to remember that the disorder feels beyond the child’s control, so it is of little use to tell them to stop doing it. If you are not sure whether your child is showing signs of OCD, consider these five common symptoms: Excessive cleaning routines. If you notice your child develops a habit of excessively washing their hands or cleaning, take note of this common symptom of OCD. Their hands may even show signs of being over washed. This compulsive activity will start to impair their everyday functioning. Counting, checking, touching. Rituals such as excessive counting, checking and rechecking, and repeatedly touching certain objects are compulsions that OCD sufferers use to alleviate anxious thoughts. These rituals bring a level of comfort even if it causes embarrassment in a social setting. Intrusive thoughts. Your young child may not be able to articulate some of the scarier symptoms of OCD in children, which involves disturbing thoughts that flood the mind: killing a pet, thoughts of violence and self-harm. Older children and teens may also struggle to discuss them, as they bring a [...]

Comments Off on 5 Symptoms of OCD in Children

How to Improve Your Self-Esteem and Love Yourself

February 8th, 2023|Christian Counseling For Teens, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development|

Some people believe it is impossible for you to improve your self-esteem. However, if you make positive, intentional choices, you can discover a newfound confidence in who you are. Characteristics of confidence A person has confidence when they believe that the course of action they have selected is the best one and that they can carry it out effectively. Confidence is sometimes referred to as self-confidence when describing it as a personality feature. People’s attitudes and views about their capacities and talents are described by this phrase. People with high degrees of self-assurance may believe they will succeed in their goals and continue to feel in charge of their lives. People who are confident in themselves typically have faith in their skills, authority, and discernment. They might feel more confident than persons with low self-confidence in their capacity to carry out a variety of life responsibilities well, feeling less anxious and self-conscious. One-time feelings of confidence are also possible. For instance, a woman preparing to speak might be sure that it would go well despite struggling at other times. However, people might also have confidence in most aspects of their lives as a broad personality feature. People with high levels of self-assurance will feel at ease thinking that other people are just like them, that they can perform well at work, and that they can handle the rigors of daily life. People with strong self-confidence tend to be happier than those with less self-confidence because high self-confidence is connected with high self-esteem. A person who has confidence in others believes that other people will do a good job at what they do, fulfill their obligations, or keep their word. While one’s interaction with another person can have an impact on one’s general opinion of others, self-confidence can also have [...]

Comments Off on How to Improve Your Self-Esteem and Love Yourself

How Maternal Mental Health Impacts a Child

January 11th, 2023|Christian Counseling for Children, Christian Counseling For Teens, Family Counseling, Featured, Individual Counseling, Women’s Issues|

Maternal mental health was not always on the minds of many of the people who provide behavioral health services in our country as an issue that needed to be addressed. The worldview has shifted by the year 2020, and the mental health of mothers (and parents in general, more generally) is becoming increasingly important to the community working in behavioral health. Women who are pregnant, new mothers, or experienced mothers are having their mental health disorders investigated by a growing number of healthcare providers, who are also investigating how the mothers’ mental health affects that of their children. According to the World Health Organization, approximately ten percent of women who are pregnant and thirteen percent of women who have recently given birth experience a mental disorder, the most common of which is depression. This results in an inability to properly function and affects the growth and development of their children. The following is a list of some of the most common types and causes of maternal mental health disorders, as well as how the management of one or more of those disorders can affect a child. Mental health disorders commonly observed in mothers. Depression /postpartum depression. Most mothers around the world struggle with depression, making it the most prevalent mental health problem related to motherhood. Although many mothers will suffer from depression at some point in their lives, postpartum depression is the form that affects new mothers more frequently than any other. After giving birth, up to eighty percent of women will experience postpartum depression in some form or another. Weepiness, impatience, irritability, restlessness, fatigue, insomnia, sadness, intrusive thoughts, or an inability to stay focused are some of the symptoms of this maternal mental health disorder. Anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are yet another typical problem with a parent’s mental [...]

Comments Off on How Maternal Mental Health Impacts a Child
Go to Top