What interventions to avoid

Question:What interventions do you need to avoid when dealing with children who have anxiety, depression, or suicidal behaviors?


Answer:Each individual case will be its own exception as to what interventions should be avoided for that person. This will depend on the person's history and associations that may be related to the anxiety, depression or suicidal behaviors.

However, it is usually always good to avoid interventions that are primarily based on punishment, as studies have shown that punishment is correlated with depressive behaviors.

An individual developing interventions for a child with anxiety, depression, or suicidal behaviors may also take into careful consideration any type of verbal corrective responses in terms of how the person's tone of voice and body language are perceived by the child.

For example, you may want the caregiver to make sure they are standing with their arms uncrossed, with a gentle facial expression, refrains from rolling eyes, loud sighs, or any other type of non-verbal behaviors that communicate annoyance with the child. Children with depression or suicidal behaviors are much more sensitive to these and may overreact to their meaning.