Kozlowska Kasia, Chudleigh Catherine, Elliott Bronwen, Landini Andrea
Psychological Medicine, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW, Australia
Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health and Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2016 Oct;21(4):669-685. doi: 10.1177/1359104515621960. Epub 2016 Jan 4.
We present the case of a 10-year-old boy, Evan, where a knock to the head activated memories of past bullying, causing intense distress, activation of the body's stress-regulation systems and recurrent hospital presentations with hyperventilation-induced non-epileptic seizures. We describe the initial assessment session that enabled Evan and his family to understand the context for Evan's non-epileptic seizures, to engage with the therapeutic team and to collaborate in the implementation of a mind-body multimodal family-based intervention. Once the physical symptoms had been addressed therapeutically, we explored possible dangers within the family and school systems and we worked with Evan and his family to increase his ability to access comfort and protection from his parents. Our short hospital intervention highlighted the importance of ongoing therapeutic work with Evan and the family and laid the foundation stones for the next part of the family's therapeutic journey.
