Stress In Children And Ways To Combat It Through Counselling / Therapy

In today’s fast paced world, Stress   the new buzz word is doing the rounds.  Stress, Stress and more Stress! We don’t realize that today’s generation is walking the tight rope where it takes a toll to keep the balance. On one hand, we want them to score A+ in all the subjects and on the other hand we want them to be a part of all competitions. In the process, we are getting them into the rat race much earlier than they are capable of handling it. We intend to convey this message with the help of a simple happening which is common in today’s households.

Also read How to Have A Happy & Healthy Relationship With Your Child

What Is Stress?

Stress is often defined as a bodily response to the demands of life. But there are also emotional and mental aspects of stress. It is experienced as thoughts and feelings as well as in the body. Another way to define stress could be as an internal and conditioned response to external pressures. 

Also read Stress - The Buzzword

Signs of Stress in children

Stress In Children

Children and teens may seem to grow up fast. They build social skills and emotional intelligence as they grow. This process can be joyful. We often celebrate milestones as children grow. But this process can also cause mental health issues. Kids and teens may develop issues with behaviour, separation, substance abuse, or something else.

Children and teens can develop a broad range of mental health issues, and up to 50% of these may develop before age 14. In addition, issues with school, friendship and bullying, the birth of new siblings, and divorce may impact children in life-altering ways that can also affect mental health. Below are some concerns which children and adolescents commonly experience.

1. Abandonment issues
2. Academic Concerns
3. Adoption and Foster Care issues
4. Anxiety
5. Attention-deficit hyperactivity (APHD)
6. Autism and Asperger’s
7. Bullying
8. Child neglect
9. Depression
10. Disruptive Mood Dysregulation (DMDD)
11. Giftedness
12. Intellectual disability
13. Oppositional and defiant behaviour (ODD)
14. Self-harm
15. Sibling issues

Also read Top 10 Tips To Help Your Children Cope With Stress

Therapy And Counselling For Children

Learning about children's mental health issues can increase one’s knowledge of how to help. Parents can support children and teens as their brains develop. Medication, therapy, or a combination of both can be effective. A counselling/ therapy session may also benefit children or teens. Therapy can be a safe space for children to process thoughts and emotions. Therapy can help address mental health issues. It can allow them to process issues surrounding growing up, school, or friends.

Career development is a lifelong process and there are several factors that influence career options in students. These factors include interests of a student, personality, values, background, abilities and circumstances. Career counselling comes into the picture and helps students to make an informed choice and also allow them to better understand themselves. Career counselling can also be pursued as a profession. There are a number of career counselling jobs in the market.

Counselling lets students understand the world of work better and the process is important for them to make decisions regarding education, career and life. They can focus more and concentrate more on making better career decisions. Counselling helps them to clear their mind and they can make decisions not only at the moment but they will get enough knowledge and skills with the help of which they can make future and life decisions.  There are numerous ways in which one can become a therapist.

Therapist jobs are overwhelming. When people develop a career in therapy they have the ability to help teens focus on the career path. Students who are not able to make advantageous decisions for their career will be able to choose a career more easily. Family therapies are also beneficial where teens and parents can together get insights on what is better for their child. Therapist helps people to maintain healthy family relations as well. Even online counselling and therapy such as BetterHelp are available where therapy sessions can be opted for from the comfort of your home.