Why children's mental health care needs a new direction.

In this article, family therapist Dr. Jenny Brown argues that contemporary youth mental health care paradoxically sidelines parents by focusing strictly on a "sickness lens" that treats the child in isolation. This individual-focused treatment encourages parents to anxious-focus on fixing their struggling child, which often leads to helplessness and diminished hope when external expert interventions fail. Grounded in Bowen family systems theory, Dr. Brown emphasizes that youth distress should instead be viewed through the lens of family relationship patterns and shared anxiety. Research highlights that long-term recovery and parental "agency-based hope" emerge when parents are brought back into the treatment process—not to be blamed, but to be empowered to lower their reactivity, step back from over-responsibility, and actively foster a calmer environment that promotes their child’s resilience.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/the-paradoxical-path-of-parental-differentiation/202606/parents-on-the-sidelines/amp