When parents bring a child to see a psychotherapist, it is usually because the child is affected in such a way that normal growing up (school work, relationship with parents and/or siblings, socialization, etc.) has become compromised.  In working with children the goal of psychotherapy is two-fold. 

The first goal is to put your child back onto the task of growing up.  To do so, one first needs to understand what is causing the development to derail.  The causes can be multiple and interacting: temperament, environment, genetic loading, etc.  Initial identification of key issues is accomplished by a thorough evaluation of the child and by interviews with the parents.  Once the whole picture is better understood, the psychotherapy can then focus on the child’s specific needs.  With younger children, this is accomplished via play therapy, which is the medium in which they can most easily express their emotional life.

The second goal of psychotherapy with children focuses on working with the parents: my role is to help parents in continuing to be, or to become, the best parents they can, given the child they have and given the circumstances in which they are raising their child.  This can include understanding your child better, having a better match between what your child can accomplish and your expectations, learning how to better set limits, breaking challenges into more manageable units, and developing better problem-solving techniques.  The goal is to help the relationship between parents and child become one that is loving and gratifying for all.

Suggested Readings:

The Magic Years
Selma Fraiberg, New York: Fireside, 1959

Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication (Revised and Updated)
Haim G. Ginott, New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003

The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
Ross W. Green, New York: Harper Collins, 2005

Playground Politics: Understanding the Emotional Life of Your School-Age Child
Stanly Greenspan with Jacqueline Salmon, Massachusetts: Perseus Books, 1993