[humanser] What's a psychotherapist to do?

[JD Townsend]

Hello:

Some excellent suggestions from the list.  Here are a couple of suggestions 
of my own.

Overly serious teens do like to do inventories.  I have several ones that I 
use from the "Beck Self-Inventory" to "What Bird Are You."  Another that 
identifies personal attributes is the "Building My House" exercise.  These 
pencil & paper exercises are then discussed in some detail, opening up a 
series of therapeutic openings.

Offering 3 wishes is often good.

The major issues with 15 year olds are most often social in nature and her 
presentation to you displays her issues.  The work of psychotherapy is in 
the transference, I'm guessing that this will be the work of your treatment. 
So, being a consistant caring presence in her life may be the better course 
of treatment.

Sometimes I give video homework.  The film ANTWAN FISHER is about a young 
man in therapy who chooses not to talk in therapy, but opens up over the 
course of the film.  I will often ask teens about books, films, videos, 
music that have engaged them.  Their descriptions of the film will often 
give you clues to their inner workings.  Boys love to talk about Darth 
Vader's relationship to his son, Luke Skywalker.


JD

-----Original Message----- 
From: Paulette Vickery via humanser
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2015 11:38 PM
To: 'Human Services Division Mailing List'
Cc: Paulette Vickery
Subject: [humanser] What's a psychotherapist to do?

Hi all,



I am seeing a 15 year old girl on Saturday afternoon. She is a very serious
girl. She goes to school, plays sports, does homework at home, then goes to
bed. Her mother and slightly older sister argue a lot and are both quite
volatile and controlling. With out going further into the matter, the girl
doesn't know how to relax and just have fun. I want to break her pattern of
seriousness by doing something unexpected and fun. However, I have not
worked with adolescents for quite a while. I can think of several things I
could do with younger children, but I am stumpt about  what to do with her.
Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.



Paulette

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JD Townsend LCSW
Helping the light dependent to see.
Daytona Beach, Earth, Sol System