NURS 6660: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Role I: Child and Adolescent

What strategies would you employ to assess the patient for abuse? Explain why you selected these strategies.
How might exposure to the media and/or social media affect the patient?
What type of mandatory reporting (if any) is required in this case? Why?
Child Abuse Case Study
NURS 6660: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Role I: Child
and Adolescent
Morgan, a 19-year-old male comes to your office to discuss his current mood andsymptoms. This is his first visit to a mental health clinic. “I’ve had 26 jobs in the last 2years; I finally have a job that I like and I want to make it work.” As you begin to get toknow him, he tells you that his mood is down and that he also has times where he has“more energy and motivation”: “That’s when I am able to get a new job.” He says that hehas difficulty interacting with coworkers. “I feel like I can’t talk to them.” If it wasn’t forhis supportive girlfriend, he wouldn’t be able to function. “She understands me andaccepts me; she knows what I have been through.”
As the PMHNP listens to the client and explores what he means by some of hisstatements, you try to put together his story. He mentions that he has been havingnightmares and is not sleeping well. He says he startles easily. He becomes withdrawnwhen he begins to talk about the reason for the nightmares.
“This all started a few weeks ago when a cousin of mine got ou of jail.” He haltingly tellsthe story of his parents’ mental illness and how he had to live with various relatives.“One cousin who I stayed with a lot took advantage of me. He molested me.” Theyfound out he also molested other children and he went to jail. “It gives me the creepsthat he is out of jail. I have to face what he did to me.”
Morgan asks about his diagnosis. The PMHNP tells him that he has some symptomsthat sound like depression and anxiety, and that when a child has a traumaticexperience, it can reoccur and stay with a person for many years. He acknowledgesthat he thought about PTSD but wasn’t sure what the symptoms look like.As you think about Morgan’s story, consider the following questions: Where did he fallbetween the cracks? Are there agencies who advocate for children like him?There are thousands of children like Morgan. They were in a vulnerable family situationand the “responsible” adult was not able to care for the child. Sometimes it takes yearsfor clients to remember and disclose the abuse.