410 | CCPT Mythbusters: Diagnosing and Medicating Kids Helps
About this episode
Dr. Brenna Hicks challenges the assumption that diagnosing and medicating children is the best approach to their mental health, advocating for child-centered play therapy instead.
In this episode of the CCPT Mythbusters series, I tackle one of the most widely accepted assumptions in children's mental health today: that diagnosing and medicating children is the best path to helping them. I explain why child-centered play therapists often find themselves working against systems that prioritize labels and prescriptions before fully understanding the whole child. While there are rare situations where diagnosis and medication are appropriate, I challenge the idea that they should be the default response. Instead, I share why CCPT begins with trust—trust in the child, trust in the therapeutic relationship, and trust in the child's innate capacity for growth when the right conditions are provided. I also discuss how to navigate conversations with parents who are considering evaluations or medication, and why I encourage families to pursue a full course of child-centered play therapy before making those decisions whenever appropriate. Drawing on more than two decades of clinical experience, I explain why so many children experience remarkable transformation without diagnoses or medication, and why preserving a child's identity and emotional development should…
More episodes of Play Therapy Podcast: A Master-Class in Child-Centered Play Therapy
- 418 | CCPT Mythbusters: You'll Eventually Be 100% Adherent to the Model
- 417 | Expectancy, Not Expectations: The Heart of Unconditional Acceptance in CCPT
- 416 | CCPT Mythbusters: Kids Are Manipulative
- 415 | Advanced "I Wonder" and Whisper Technique in Role Play
- 414 | When a Child Narrates Their Own Play - Trusting the Process
- 413 | CCPT Mythbusters: Child-Centered Play Therapy Doesn't Work with Older Kids
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