Thanks again. I usually am not in the room when he is with his psychologist, but last time she had me join them and that's when they did the coloring faces. I'm not sure if other times they do more of actual CBT. It's really hard because CBT is trying to train your brain to think a different way... my son has already decided that it is impossible. We have a book "What to do When You Grumble Too Much", my son is willing to try the strategies when he is really desperate, but usually it's a no go.
Part of it is that he struggles with writing and I think he has just realized that the writing is only going to increase. I have asked the school to have him evaluated for OT.
He told me that the psychologist is the wrong kind of doctor, it's his body that's sick. Heartbreaking, but he has already seen his pediatrician and I am pretty confident that his body is ok.
He may be correct, in some ways, that it is (loosely) his body that is the obstacle--if one of the foci of his depression and anxiety is a fine-motor or other writing disability. No amount of CBT will remediate dysgraphia or the like. After all, the objective of CBT is to gain a sense of healthy perspective on one's thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Not to create a fantasy that there are no real problems of significance. So if there is a real problem of significance that is not being addressed, no kind of psychotherapy (that does not target the real problem) will be effective over the long term.
I'm glad you're pursuing an OT eval.
