Psychology sometimes remains a hazy concept, which understanding is yet unclear.
The aim of this section is to offer clarifications and answers to any issues you might be wondering about concerning this field. .

Isn't he/she too young to see a therapist??!

This is a question that often comes to the mind of people, especially parents. Indeed, the idea of adults seeing a therapist has become more common today, but when it involves children, the issue becomes more delicate. Some parents are very reluctant to take their child to a therapist, even when he/she is in need of such support.

A number of reasons account for this reluctance. One the one hand, it is difficult for parents to acknowledge an inner discomfort in their child, as the latter rarely expresses it with words but more through a certain attitude or signs that parents are not always ready to concede. On the other hand, the procedure of taking their child to a therapist may prove to be quite painful to them; their self-love can be hurt, as their child's discomfort can be interpreted as a questioning of their ability to be good parents: am I a good mother, a good father?

This is why the most widespread motivations that bring a child to therapy are generally a drop in school grades and/or an aggressive behavior. In both cases, the child disrupts his/her school and/or family circles. This is why a psychological support is usually requested according to these individuals' comfort and demands. But, prior to the declining grades or the aggressive behavior, the child may have displayed subtler signs of his/her discomfort.

Some children do not express their pain in an obvious and discomforting way, but do suffer… in silence. In order to detect this inner pain, a parent must be very attentive to his/her child, in order to be present and offer the needed help and support. In this frame of mind, it is easier for parents or other people close to the child to notice the latter's sadness, lack of fun when playing, isolation among friends or great shyness and inhibition. We often hear someone say about a child: "oh, he's great, he's no problem at all… he's always in his room, quietly playing alone, it's as if he wasn't even there!" Well, it is precisely in such a case that you should ask questions. Obviously, some kids are quieter than others, and can have be more solitary by nature, but it is important to try and find out what's behind this solitude and isolation.

Other signs can also catch the parents' attention, such as sleeping trouble, repetitive and frequent nightmares, food trouble, lack of concentration and excessive fears. Some children can also express their psychological pain through physical disturbances, such as frequent headaches, various pains and a constipation that resists all treatments. In these cases, if no physical origin has been detected, then it would be preferable to seek a therapist's assistance.

In fact, it is important for your child's healthy psycho-affective development to seek psychological support as soon as such troubles appear, without however overstepping the line. This kind of care can be limited to a few sessions only or can be extended to a full-fledged psychotherapy if the need arises. In any case, try to keep in mind that the earlier such care is carried out, the greater the chances are of improvement

Maha Rabbath