Helpful! The article on using CBT to help with a child and anxiety, and the article on providing help to a young woman who had been cutting, gave me a good sense of actually using some strategies in therapy. The articles provided detail to suggest how I may be able to use similar strategies to help young people.
I've been a naysayer about CBT. I thought that the CBT article helped answer some of my questions about what a good therapeutic relationship would look like using CBT. I still have a question about the “stickiness” of these improvements for the young person. What will that child’s world look like in two years?
I think I have similar questions about the strengths-based approach in the article on cutting. I feel empathy for the young woman described in the article. I hope her future continues on its improved path. It’s helpful that her father agreed to make changes in his life and in his relationship with his daughter. It’s interesting to me that at least some of the changes he made were apparently motivated by concerns about negative career impacts. Will the father continue to provide helpful support for the daughter? Will the daughter’s new friendships and career possibilities continue to be positive for her?
I know we can only help the person who is in front of us now. Who knows about security / insecurity, positives and negatives, in the future? But I still find myself wishing to be able to help with lasting change. I’m still wary of the short-term therapy models.