Child and Adolescent Centered Therapy
A Philosophy of Treatment
When a child or adolescent is presented for treatment - barring organic causes - the first question one must ask, “Who has the problem?’ Is it the child, adolescent, parents, school or the interactions of all?
After interviewing the child/adolescent and the parents (conducted in both family and individual sessions), I present the parents with an evaluation.
Dependent upon the severity of the child’s/adolescent’s problems and the ability of the parents to mobilize their parenting skills, it is decided to address the presenting problems with individual sessions as well as family sessions.
Unfortunately, many children/adolescents do not come to a psychologist until their functioning has been sufficiently compromised usually needing individual help. My attempt is to minimize the treatment of the child/adolescent if possible and enable the parents to learn to parent appropriately and repair the child’s/adolescent’s emotional functioning.
Dr. Pitta has created several models of treatment in dealing with child/adolescent focused problems: Co-operative parents, the combative un-co-operative parents, the step or single parent family with 2 or more co-operative parents, and the step or single parent family with one co-operative parent.
Within the treatment, Dr. Pitta teaches parents how to “Creatively Love” their children which is a program that builds self esteem, discipline and mutual caring.