Supporting Children with Mood Disorders Through Therapy
More and more children are receiving diagnoses of mood disorders, including bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. These pediatric mood disorders can make it extremely difficult for children to stay regulated across a variety of environments—including school and home. As a result, it can impact their ability to learn at their greatest potential, as well as make and sustain meaningful relationships with peers and family members.
Common Challenges in Children with Mood Disorders
Children with mood disorders often have difficulty identifying how their bodies are feeling and what environmental triggers are linked to their emotions and reactions. Many families seeking therapy for kids with mood disorders also notice challenges with emotional regulation, attention, and transitions between activities or environments. Oftentimes, there are underlying difficulties with sensory processing, motor planning, auditory processing, and language comprehension, which can further affect a child’s ability to cope and communicate effectively.
A Whole-Child Approach to Therapy
The most common treatments for pediatric mood disorders include medications and language-based talk therapy. While these approaches can be helpful, for many children, they are not enough on their own. Additional support through child anxiety therapy, child depression therapy, and emotional regulation therapy for children can help address the root of these challenges in a more comprehensive way.
How Therapy at Family Tree Can Help
At Family Tree, our team of occupational therapists and speech therapists integrate a variety of approaches to provide pediatric mood disorder therapy tailored to each child. We focus on helping your child maintain an ideal state of regulation so they can be available to learn, play, and engage meaningfully with others. This may include Stanley Greenspan’s Floortime/DIR model and Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking® concepts, alongside techniques and strategies to build foundational skills in reflexive, sensory, and language development.
Therapy often begins with individual sessions to build comfort and foundational skills. As your child progresses, we may introduce small-group sessions to support regulation, problem-solving, and the development of peer relationships and friendships in a structured, supportive environment.