Parenting Issues & Support

Parenting does not always come naturally. As a parent, you may come upon a situation that you have little experience dealing with and feel uncertain as to what the ‘best’ way of dealing with this situation may be. Even if you have more than one child – that doesn’t mean you aren’t constantly facing new situations. Challenges in parenting can involve diagnoses or (not yet diagnosed) mental, physical or developmental issues or disorders.

Whatever the case, these and other issues (and the associated stress) can make parenting feel harder than it should.

Some parenting issues and symptoms of parent stress include:

• Fear of your child
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Having more questions than answers
• Uncontrollable children
• Depression
• Not knowing how to proceed with disciplinary measures
• Feeling the need to be perfect
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Not knowing how to deal with behavioural issues
• Not knowing how to deal with your child’s disorder diagnosis (autism, oppositional defiance disorder, ADD/ADHD. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, learning disorders, etc.)

When is it time to get help?

Every parent faces challenges. It’s common to feel that some days are simply overwhelming and you wonder how successful you are as a parent. However, those days should not be the norm. If you are feeling disassociated from your child, resentment towards your child, relationships with your other children, your partner and others are being affected, or just feeling at a loss of what to do, then it is time to seek some support.

Parenting issues treatment methods

Your therapist will talk with you (and perhaps your child/ren) to determine what is causing the issue you are facing. They may recommend an assessment if a behaviour or developmental disorder is suspected or not yet diagnosed. They may treat how you are feeling (depression, anxiety, etc.) and they may also recommend couple or family therapy. Effective family treatment methods include:

• Behavioural therapy tends to view human beings and behaviour with the assumption that humans are a product of their sociocultural conditioning and environment, looking at the current problems and the factors influencing them and emphasizes behaviour changes more than the underlying unconscious processes.
• Family systems therapy looks at the family as a one emotional unit. This therapeutic approach looks at the relationships within the family and the structure as a whole.
• Structural family therapy involves looking at the structures within the family unit. Changing the underlying structure tends to cause a ripple effect on the family. This therapy analyzes the hierarchical structure, subsystems and boundaries within the family.

Every family situation is unique and the treatment will depend on your individual circumstances Solving parenting issues can be a multi-step process than involves talk therapy to work, as well as parenting classes or other forms of training. An evaluation completed by a licensed counsellor in order to come up with a therapy plan is the first step in the process.

What will I get out of treatment with Insight Psychological?

Learning how to reflect on, and adapt your parenting style and what works best for your child can be a real game changer for you and your family. Receiving a diagnosis or learning about a behavioural, developmental or mental health disorder is an important part of effectively dealing with and adapting to the disorder, and supporting your child. Parenting will always have challenges because children will always challenge their parents, but you can find relief and learn effective coping tools from therapy.

If you’re ready to work through parenting issues, please contact Insight Psychological today.