S3E43 - Reverse Pandora's Box: Can My Child Lose the Progress They've Made in Therapy?

Play Therapy Parenting: Real Parenting Questions Answered by a Child Therapist · May 14, 2026 · 8m · transcript

In this episode of the Parent Companion for Play Therapy series, I talk about one of the biggest fears parents have after things begin improving: "What if we go backwards?" When life becomes calmer and more regulated, many parents worry that their child could suddenly return to the same level of anxiety, aggression, or emotional chaos they experienced before therapy. I explain why that fear is understandable—but why true growth in child-centered play therapy does not simply disappear.

I introduce the concept of reverse Pandora's box to explain how healing works in CCPT. Children cannot…