Punching bags
I had an interesting question from a parent about whether a punching bag was a good idea for his angry son. His idea was that maybe a punching bag was a better idea than the plaster walls, his siblings or the computer.
As most questions about responding to human behaviours begin… “It depends”.
Helping kids after traumas
Cyclone Debbie was an unwanted visitor during our recent family holiday on Hamilton Island. Fortunately the hotel we were staying at was rated for a category 5 cyclone and well prepared with excellent staff, making the whole experience of lashing rain and 260km winds awe-inspiring, but not frightening.
Blame and wait…the classic mistake
I was frustrated with a teenager this week. In the session all she seemed to do was complain about her parents, her friends, her teachers, her homework and her life. When I asked her what she was going to do about it, she threw back at me, “What can I do…it’s their problem!”
What’s the point of talking
Hi to all,
I was talking with a patient this week who was fed up. “Why do you want to talk about crap from my past all the time. Can’t you just increase my meds and make me feel better!”
Children and medication
One of my newsletter receivers wanted to know how to work out whether medication could or should be used in their young person. As you can imagine, this is a frequently asked and a very important question.
Being a child psychiatrist, one of the tools I can use to create change is medication. But…
Beautiful Vs Good
When I have a new idea, I tend to play with it for a while. The families I work with don’t know it, but often they are the guinea pigs for these new ideas, and their feedback within the following sessions lets me know if it is going to be a useful idea or not. The post last week about VO5 is one such recent idea,
Nice kids finish last
Michael (not his real name) was a boy in grade five who was worried about his friends. At a school camp three months previously some things had happened that had left him feeling on the outer of his group. As exclusion and abandonment are our greatest fears,