These preventative measures apply to both parents and educators and include: reducing punitive methods of control, providing clear rules for conduct and discipline, assuring support for both parents and educators, minimizing academic failure experiences, teaching critical social skills, using appropriate behavior management techniques, and supporting student involvement (Mayer, 2001). There were several treatment options that I found, but not many clear descriptions of the treatment itself and its efficacy. The suggested treatments were: familial interventions, social-cognitive interventions, peer and school based interventions, and community interventions (Offord, 1994).
In the next segment of this essay, I will address Brandi's behaviors and diagnoses from different agencies from March of 2000 to the present. I will also include a brief history in order to better illustrate her need for hospitalization. Brandi was first hospitalized and admitted to The Children's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, at the age of thirteen because she had been complaining of feeling more depressed and suicidal over the past six months. In addition, she reported that her peers were making fun of her and that she had been sexually active with two boys she barely knew. My parents were also concerned that she had limited insight into her difficulties. This was her first psychiatric hospitalization.
During her interview at the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit (APU), she reported feeling "really depressed" and "stressed out." She also reported feeling like she was a "mistake" and that my parents liked my brother and I better than her. She mostly described being constantly worried and having trouble relaxing and sleeping. In regards to her sexual encounters, she stated that she felt she had created a bad reputation for herself in our small hometown and that she had also let my mother down. .
Brandi was evaluated by several different diagnostic tests during her stay at Children's hospital.
