4 Troubled Teens Blog

Study: Alternative Therapies Don't Help Traumatized Children

Alternative therapies do not help children who have been traumatized by violence or abuse, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. However, the study did find that conventional talk therapy is effective.

A research team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed a dozen previous studies and found no evidence that alternative therapies provide good outcomes for children who have gone through physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence, or natural disasters.

The therapies reviewed were play and art therapy (in which children use toys or art to express threatening thoughts or feelings) and psychological debriefing (in which a group of children who have witnessed a traumatic event share thoughts and feelings).

Talk therapy involves having the child sit down for several sessions with a trained therapist who helps him explore and change her thoughts and beliefs..

Labels: trauma, therapy, abuse

Posted By: Aspen Education Group