Young People and Teenagers

Oliver came to 14 weekly sessions.  The psychologist helped Oliver learn about how fear works in our bodies and minds.  They talked about threats and how different types of threat can be misunderstood. Oliver was helped to try out experiments in the dark, with his family and alone, in and out of his home, in a safe way.  This helped Oliver to stop avoiding the dark and learn to manage his uncomfortable feelings, work out whether a threat was small or big and discover which new behaviours, thoughts and activities worked best for him to overcome his fear.

When relevant examples came up at school, Oliver was helped to notice that his feelings of embarrassment were completely normal and that he sometimes set too high goals for himself, goals that no person could expect to achieve all the time.  

Oliver learned that he often made unhelpful assumptions about what teachers may think about him or their behaviour.  He was encouraged to think with the psychologist about how he might go about finding out what the teachers thought and come up with other more helpful reasons for their behaviour.  Oliver was also helped to understand why he was frequently looking to others for approval and instead lower his distress by trying out helpful self-talk.  Self- talk is often used to remind ourselves that we are doing well and are going to be fine even when others do not say so or seem to notice.

When therapy came to an end Oliver said 'I can learn new skills, and manage fears'.  He explained ‘my fear of dark and getting up in the night isn’t as hard anymore’.  Oliver rated his fear at the end of therapy at 2.5/10 (where ten equals worst fear) instead of 10/10 when talking therapy started.  

He went on to explain ‘I took a break from getting my homework done on the same day yesterday…less pressure…I didn’t worry about my rule of getting homework done in one day even when it is not due to the following week…I have learnt that I can take breaks sometimes’.

Penny attended 16 weekly sessions in which she revealed she had begun to self-harm.  Past and present factors influencing Penny’s mood were identified and where they were unhelpful, challenged.

New strategies for managing severe upset and high emotions were introduced and practiced in-between sessions.  Penny was helped to develop a more compassionate view of herself, reduce her constant comparison to others and reintroduce pleasurable activities.

Over the latter part of therapy, Penny reported that she had started attending a drama class which she was enjoying and she had made new friends.  Penny also proudly reported she had not cut herself for over three weeks and didn’t intend to do so again.  

In a follow-up session, six months after initial therapy had ended, Penny explained she had only cut herself on one occasion and was currently three and half months free of self-harm.  Together we discussed how setbacks are normal and refreshed helpful strategies for preventing and managing any unhelpful urges and relapses.