Marriage Counseling & Psychotherapy

Beverly Hills, CA

David Gorton, Ph.D.

Counseling and Therapy for Children and Adolescents

Children
As a parent you are understandably concerned about your children's happiness and well-being. As a father of three children I certainly understand this as I very much have the same concerns. I enjoy children very much and it would be a privilege to help yours in any way I can.

I first have to make an assessment to determine if it would be best to see the child in the context of family therapy or to see the child alone. I always encourage you as a parent to give me your input on any decisions that are to be made regarding your child.

There are many reasons you might want your child to be seen in therapy or counseling. Some children have anxiety that prevents them from interacting successfully with siblings or other children, prevents them from completing school work or prevents them from interacting with you, the parent in a satisfying way.

Some children have depression with the same results listed above for anxiety. It is important to note that often depression and anxiety go hand in hand.

Many children have difficulty focusing on the task at hand whether at home or at school. Attention deficit disorder (referred to as A. D. D.) must be considered as a possible cause.

Conduct disorders and eating disorders must also be addressed.

Then there are the developmental disorders of childhood such as developmental reading disorder, language disorders (difficulty in language expression, comprehension or articulation) and even arithmetic disorder.

When doing psychotherapy with children I am mindful of the fact that children do not want to sit still and talk with therapists as adults do, but rather express themselves through action and play first and only then verbally. I use many forms of play therapy such as art therapy (drawing) use of sand or play tray (with small figures of people and animals), singing, dancing (movement therapy) and music with play instruments. Through these forms of active therapy children are much more open.

Adolescents
In working with adolescents we see the disorders described above with children and we also see other disorders more commonly found in teenagers.

Bipolar disorder typically has its onset in the teenage years and it is very important that it be diagnosed as early as possible. What is meant by the term bipolar is that there are episodes of both depression and mania (overly elevated or irritable moods). Medication and psychotherapy are indicated for this serious condition.

Eating disorders have become widespread among adolescents --- mostly with girls but not uncommonly with boys, also.

The two most prevalent eating disorders are anorexia, where the teenager loses at least 25% of their weight (starting with normal weight for the girls height), but still reports "feeling fat." With bulimia for the teenager binges and then attempts to prevent regaining weight by self-induced vomiting or by the use of diuretics or cathartics.

I take eating disorders very seriously since they are a cry for help and can potentially lead to other illnesses or even death.

I see eating disorders as a form of self-mutilation and another category of self-mutilation is cutting. Cutting has reached widespread proportions among teenagers and, as with eating disorders, is most often seen with girls.

Cutting is understandably frightening to parents who fear that their child is attempting to kill themselves, which is rarely the case. The mistake is to focus on the symptom. The cutting, as upsetting as it is, is a symptom rather than the cause, which is usually a great sense of isolation and which leads to depression. The act of making superficial cuts on the skin releases "healing endorphins" which in turn give a sense of well-being and relief. My task as the family therapist is to help the family bring the teen and out of isolation and into better, healthier ways of feeling good.

Self-mutilation technically also includes body piercing and tattooing, but these have become common and socially accepted among teens in the past decade, so that it is difficult to convince teens that they should wait until they can understand the full ramifications of such permanent markings on their bodies. This is difficult but not impossible.

There are other afflictions the teenagers and even children deal with such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Compulsive behaviors are an attempt to feel more in control of one's life thus the various ways of controlling one's behavior or objects in the pursuit of feeling this control.

If you suspect your child or adolescent may have any of the above disorders please call me for a free phone consultation at (818) 347-2633.

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David Gorton, Ph.D.
Marriage & Family Therapist
Lic. No. MFC7027
420 South Beverly Dr. Suite 100
Beverly Hills CA 90212
(818) 347-2633