Clinical Case Study: Single Session Therapy for the treatment of anxiety related to Covid-19 in a pediatric emergency department
The spread of Single Session Therapy throughout the world is now a certain fact, as evidence of this phenomenon are the multiple applications of the method in the various areas of mental health .
Through the exposition of a clinical case in which the three phases of a Single Session Cognitive Behavioral Therapy intervention in a pediatric setting are described for the treatment of anxiety related to the spread of Covid-19 (P Lee & Simpson, 2020), we really want to highlight the different ways in which the single session mindset is expressed, proving to be a fundamental resource for improving the quality of services and making them accessible to a larger population.
How can the Single Session mindset represent a resource in pediatric mental health?
Even before the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic , visits to pediatric emergency departments had increased (Sheridan et al. 2015). Over half a million children (a significant portion of whom come from families in conditions of socio-economic disadvantage) were taken to psychiatric emergency rooms every year for mental health problems, of which almost half with symptoms attributable to an anxiety disorder . With the pandemic, this phenomenon has increased (Jiao et al . 2020) (e.g., children experience anxiety connected to the epidemic and the health of relatives, poor sleep, physical discomfort, agitation and separation anxiety) and with it the need to provide a more effective response in order to reduce further psychiatric emergency admissions in general (P Lee & Simpson, 2020).
Clinical case.
A 10-year-old American Indian girl arrives at the pediatric emergency room accompanied by her mother, presenting with chest pain, abdominal pain, nausea and decreased appetite for a few weeks. She had no significant medical or psychiatric history. Her vital signs and laboratory tests were reassuring. At the time of the initial evaluation, the child’s mother expressed concern about her daughter’s anxiety and discomfort related to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The team offers the family a visit with the service’s specialized behavioral health counselor. The mother reports to the counselor that the Covid-19 pandemic had been difficult. The child felt “down” and she experienced increased irritability, loss of pleasure (anhedonia), tearfulness, racing thoughts, and worry. The child reported struggling with social isolation and not being able to see her friends, who she previously saw at school. Additionally, the little girl was worried that her family members might contract the coronavirus; two of her brothers had poor health. She also feared that her abdominal pain was an indication of a serious health problem. The little patient had not reported suicidal thoughts or substance use.
The behavioral health counselor began a brief three-phase cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)