How to choose the right psychologist for the child?

It does not take professional knowledge of psychology to notice that your child experiences certain difficulties in communication and needs help. For this, there is enough parental care and love.

For the successful formation of the child's personality, it is important in such a situation to come to his aid on time and turn to a professional. After all, if you do not take this step in time, the child's life difficulties will accumulate, turning into a huge, rapidly growing snowball.

In order to understand how to choose the right psychologist for a child, you must first realize that to solve what kind of problems you needed the help of a specialist.

A psychologist for a child is necessary if your child has difficulties with social adaptation, frequent conflicts with close people, if you notice he has a constant apathy or a depressed state, uncharacteristic for his age and not having a visible physiological cause.

If your child is tortured by terrible dreams, obsessive phobias, increased anxiety, it is worth talking to a psychotherapist or psychiatrist. Do not think that psychiatrists treat only mentally ill people. Their main task is to prevent the development of the disease.

The psychotherapist unites the possibilities of a psychologist and a psychiatrist, possessing in-depth knowledge of both psychiatry and psychology. The psychotherapist works with the most difficult cases. For example, the consequences of nervous shocks associated with violence, accident or loss of a loved one. The therapist in his work can use role-playing games, light hypnosis, techniques of neuro-linguistic programming.

Unlike a psychologist, who usually has a higher education in humanities, a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist are specialists with medical education. Accordingly, they have much wider permissible methods of application. A psychiatrist and a psychotherapist can prescribe medicines, but a psychologist should not do this.

Having decided that you need a psychologist, we continue to understand how to choose it correctly.

Although a psychologist is not a doctor, it should be chosen equally carefully. After all, you have to trust this person with the most valuable thing you have, your child. And the way his future will develop, what kind of a person he will grow, depends largely on the literacy of the child psychologist.

It is best to choose a psychologist to which one of your friends has already applied. Talk to other parents, ask who they can advise. Sometimes the right specialist is through your friends' acquaintances. Taking advice from other people, you will save a lot of nerves and time.

If the specialist had to look for himself, be sure to learn in detail about his qualifications. Specify his education, specialization. It is unlikely that a psychologist who is accustomed to working with older people who have lost their jobs can help your child.

Do not expect that a school psychologist or a kindergarten psychologist will cope with your problem. The duties of these specialists include not only work with a large number of children, but also the entire teaching staff. Therefore, as a rule, there is neither strength nor time for individual work. Perhaps, the only thing that a psychologist can help with is to diagnose your difficulties.

Before you lead to a child's psychologist, talk to him yourself. Explain the essence of the problem, clarify the possible options for work with which it is planned to solve. A quick promise of results should immediately alert you. Any guarantees in psychology are inappropriate, too thin material - the human soul.

Another unacceptable method is an attempt to "get to know you closer." If the "psychologist" does his best to find out your personal information (phone number, address), most likely, you are a fraudster. And you, alas, have to look for another specialist.

A competent psychologist (not only a child, but also an adult) will not impose on his clients any philosophy or religion. In particular, if the conversation about faith comes without clarifying your relationship to this issue. In this case, there is a high probability that fate brought you with a representative of a certain sect.

If it's not about social adaptation of the child, do not settle for trying to convince you to work in a group. Thus, unscrupulous psychologists tend to accept the maximum number of clients in the minimum amount of time. On the quality of the work, of course, speech is not here.

Even knowing how to choose the right psychologist for a child, and making this choice according to all the rules, be prepared for the fact that you will have to come to him more than once. Do not expect that a visit to a psychologist will work like a magic wand, and all your difficulties will dissipate in an instant. Your child and psychologist should find contact, and this takes time and patience.

Perhaps it will be a direct communication between a psychologist and a child "one on one", or it may be necessary to actively participate in a group work. In any case, the influence of a psychologist helps to activate the vitality of the crumbs, its mental development. In addition, the psychologist accentuates the child's attention to his abilities and strong character traits. This helps the child to become more self-confident, learns to cope with the arising life troubles, make the right decision.

Psychologist's consultations will help your child to form a correct self-esteem. Such help is extremely important in this period of life, when the person is most ready for development. After all, in childhood, the main character traits are formed, the style of communication with peers and adults, the attitude to others and life in general develops. It is at this stage that it is determined whether a child can grow up to be a successful person, or he will have to overcome his own misconceptions and struggle with complexes for the rest of his life.

And yet, your intuition will help you to choose the right psychologist. Whatever the recommendations and regalia of a specialist, both you and your child should feel sympathy for him. Indeed, in psychology, one of the most important components of success is trust between the psychologist and the client. Otherwise, we will not get a frank conversation, which means that there will be no result.