How Long Should Therapy Be?

7 months is not very long to work through issues about death and dying. If it were something with a smaller impact I would think it might be about finished but with such a difficult issue I don't think it is very long. Talk to the therapist and tell them you have noticed a very good amount of progress and was wondering when you could cut down from once a week to maybe every other week, or something like that. You don't want him to grow up and suddenly develop an anxiety disorder or panic disorder. When an accident happens even later in life he could revert back to this stage and it is much harder as an adult to adapt and heal the mind.

Perhaps you can consider taking him less often and spending time talking weekly, like 'family meeting' time. See how he responds. He may be ready, he may ask when he is going back. God Bless!

There's probably no such thing as too long with a really great therapist, because all of us, young and old, have room to grow. But there is such a thing as long enough, which would vary a lot from one person to the next, and would depend on such things as regaining emotional equilibrium and confidence, and whether the cost, in terms of money and time, might be better used in other ways.

This is a highly individual call. Have you had a quiet conversation with your son about how he feels stopping or continuing the counseling? He's old enough to have some sense of his own well-being. If he wants to continue, you might ask him if he has a sense of what he's still hoping to gain. If he's just going because he likes having a wise counselor to talk to, that is lovely if you can afford it, but may not be necessary.

If you get the sense that your son has made your desired gains, it would be reasonable to tell the counselor that you need to stop, but perhaps will call her again in the future if the need becomes apparent. You can ask her, if you wish, whether she has specific reasons she would advise continuing therapy. She may tell you something important, which you would want to weigh in your final decision. But the decision should be yours, based on all reasonable factors.

Be sure she knows how much you have appreciated the help she's given your son – but it sounds like she knows that already.

Did you ask your son how he feels about continuing or stopping therapy? You don't mention how often he goes so I would say if he still wants to go & the Therapist thinks he could still benefit, then let him continue and possibly cut down the amount of times per month he goes.

Kudos to you for getting your son the help he needs. Best wishes

My son sees a therapist. We are going to continue for now, until school starts and we see how things go. I have read up a bit on child therapy. While your son meets with the therapist, the therapist should also be meeting with the parents every so often to discuss how things are going because the child depends on the parents for everything pretty much. At that time, you should be talking about how to handle things once the therapy stops. When you think that you can do things on your own, you should be able to stop even if just temporary. Before school starts, we will be meeting with the therapist and thensee how the first few weeks of school go. We will either vut the visits in half or stop all together with ideas of what we can do in case we see our son retreating to old habits.

My son goes every two weeks right now and the therapist will cut back to once a month when he starts showing greater improvement. For our situation, I think we will continue that way for a while. It may be a good option to start stretching out the time between visits and see how your son does.

If you, your son and the therapist believe that the goals that you had when you initiated therapy have been met, and you've (they've) accomplished what it was that needed to be accomplished, then it sounds like the therapy is no longer needed. You can always go back down the road if you need to.

Just sending a hug and warm thoughts to your family. Sounds like you have had a rough year. Bless you!

It's different for everyone. It sounds great he's making progress but I think what she's wanting is not just a few months of positive progress but a few more then that. Meaning he's taken baby steps (if you will) and can toddle side to side on this, she's wanting him to be able to really walk stand up straight no hesitation and really walk with this situation. I 'd say (not as a professional) he's making progress and it sounds like she wants to make sure he continues it and not pull out the rug from him to soon making him stumble and have a huge set back. I'd say if he was my kid about 3 more months then I'd tell the therapist what you feel that he's really held his ground and you'd like the sessions to be less until maybe once a month. then maybe once in two months then call an end to it have a see you if we need you later party with her...and maybe just to see how he's doing once every 6 months to once a year then maybe not at all....Some type of taper down with therapy sessions.

You both went through a tough time and very scary for a little one to experience....best he remember what great feels to have leaving after all he's been through and how strong he is for making such great progress.