1 Child therapy has seen a boom in recent years.

The old methods of simply keeping a child quiet or attempting to "home remedy" them are falling out of favor. Parents are beginning to realize that their children's problems are beyond the scope of their personal abilities. Once this realization is achieved, the way becomes open to seek many different methods of aid. Family therapy is a group therapy method which involves as many members of the immediate family as possible. The family members are encouraged to talk out their issues as a group under the guidance of one or more professional counselors. The goal of this method is to identify "problem areas" in the family dynamic such as blocked communications, strained relationships, or hidden hostilities (Mental Disorders). By bringing these issues to the surface in a public forum, a child is not only able to resolve individual issues with family members, but additionally the group therapy if successful will strengthen the overall structure of the family which will ultimately provide a better environment for the child to recover in. Art therapy functions on the very simple premise that the patient, especially a child does not possess or otherwise does not wish to use the communication skills which are necessary to relay their problem to others (Pifalo). In using art the patient is able to create an alternative environment in which they can express the emotions that their issues evoke. A trained counselor can then take those art pieces and help the patient to interpret their meaning. As a byproduct, once the child begins to recover, their art will generally reflect brighter and more cheerful tones. If this happens to be the case then the child can be encouraged to take their art home, wherein the more cheerful themed art will help them to recover even more fully. Furthermore to a child art itself is a fun activity that they can engage in which is not perceived as therapy or a medical process. This allows for the counselor to reach the child without putting them "on guard" or making them unnecessarily defensive.

2 Play therapy, much like art therapy bypasses the need for verbal skills and places the child in a familiar and non-threatening environment (Hall, Kaduson Schaefer). In this form of therapy toys become the vehicles of expression. Since toys are a subject that most any child should already be familiar with, enticing the child to play should not present much difficulty. By watching this "play" closely, a trained counselor should be able to spot and identify problems whether or not the child chooses to speak. From there the counselor should be able to establish a rapport with the child through co-operative play and dialog about the play. In disguising the treatment process as a continuing "fun time" the child's issues can be worked through with minimal trauma. This is due to the fact that standard counseling methods rely on confronting issues, however to a child such confrontational-ism can be damaging. The play therapy methods allow for the issues to be confronted without the child ever knowing if the counselor is clever enough. Additionally the play therapy teaches the child to express themselves through their playing which in itself is a healthy social behavior. Dealing with children's issues is often times much more complex than dealing with adult's issues. This is, ironically due to the fact that most children lack the individual complexity of mature adults. This conundrum has now produced a host of methods for properly approaching children through simplicity. The key to effective treatment for any child therefore is to find the appropriate method for that child and apply it.

3 References Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders - Family Therapy (2010). Retrieved June 5, 2011 ,from http://www.minddisorders.com/Del-Fi/Family-therapy.html Hall, G.M., Kaduson, H.G., & Schaefer, C.E. (2009). Fifteen Effective Play Therapy Techniques Retrieved June 5, 2011,from http://faculty.unlv.edu/khertlein/COU705/fifteen%20play%20therapy%20techniques.pdf Pifalo, T. (2008). Why Art Therapy Retrieved June 5, 2011, from http://www.darkness2light.org/KnowAbout/articles_art_therapy.asp