child psych

[hsieh]

is there anybody out there who has worked child psych? do/did you like or hate it? why and why not? i've been offered a job in child psych. they said they'll let me observe a few days before i make my decison.

[Aaron C.]

I spent a week in dual diagnosis with teenagers and then a week with little ones at the end of nursing school for clinicals. I can't remember exactly what ages. It was very rewarding with the little kids in that they were SOOOO excited to have me there. They don't get attention like that all the time and someone acting like they care abou them, just for a few hours a day, just made them light up. I had a hard time with it. I wanted to take them all home with me.

Looking through their charts, every single one of those kids in there was abused physically and sexually by ever damn member of their family. Dad, uncle, grandpa, you name it. I went home and cried every day to my wife. I had a little girl at the time and the thought of something like that happening to an innocent child was too much for me to bear. I was so angry at society.

Those kids are in and out of there all the time and they are always full to capacity. I'd like to know the number of kids that go through there every year...

And it's just one small facility. I mostly was angry because if you start calculating in your head how bad these kids are, and how many of them are in there every year, times the number of facilities like this in the country, and then consider the fact that there is only room for those who have been abused so bad it has affected them psychologically, you come up with a number so astonishing it will make you sick.

I'll add more later but I have to go.

[CNA516]

So tell me.. did the rewarding part of working in psych with children outweigh the fact that you went home upset all the time? I am asking because thats exactly where I want to work..child psych.. I'm passionate about my career chioce but am also a very sensitive person. I wonder if it will tear me up after a few years.

[CNA516]

So tell me.. did the rewarding part of working in psych with children outweigh the fact that you went home upset all the time? I am asking because thats exactly where I want to work..child psych.. I'm passionate about my career choice but am also a very sensitive person. I wonder if it will tear me up after a few years.

[hsieh]

i observed for a day child psych before making the decision to take the job. i decided not to take the job. i asked one of the employess why the kids are here and he said - some need to be, some deserve to be, and some are just brats. is "brats" in the medical dictionary? what is the science behind labeling somebody a "brat"? have they done research to discover this "brat" diagnosis?
what axis does "brat" fit under? does medicaid pay to hospitalize people who suffer from being a "brat"? i think these are all fair questions but i wouldn't dare ask anybody at that hospital. they might think i'm being "difficult".

[nodakpair]

I worked child psych for 6 years. For the most part I worked with adolescents. I was in charge of the floor which included children,(age 2 to12). There is tragedy and abuse in all age groups. The rewards are still there if you can manage to understand that many of these children will be going back into the environment that is contributing to their illness. You must except the reality that you will see many of them over and over again.
In regard to the "Diagnosis Brat". Yes, I have seen some children that fall under that catagory. The psychiatrist changes the diagnosis to oppositional defient disorder to satisfy the insurance companies and make the parents feel good.

[hsieh]

i'm opposed to an abused or unlucky child being called a brat. working in psych i've always found it strange how we live in a culture that hates child abuse yet has such little tolerance for the results of the abuse on the child. i see it in the adult population via the borderline personality disorder. most of these people were abused as children yet some staff (including psychiatrists) have very little tolerance for them.

[angelaRN73]

I worked for a year with kids in an outpatient setting and have been working with adults inpatient for almost 6 years. It's true that it is hard seeing all of the physical, psychological, and sexual abuse that occurs with kids- I took it home with me every day. But at least you feel that you might be able to make a positive difference in their lives while they are young. With adults, old habits die hard and you see the same patients with the same problems being admitted over and over again...it's discouraging.

[sykaaa80]

I haven't worked in child psych as an RN, but I did as a mental health therapy aide and I have to say, it take a very strong person to do this type of work for several reasons. One mentioned above is the fact that the childhoods these kids endure is sickening, you have to be able to face that parents and family can do this to their children. Another one being that a lot of these children go back to that same environment and you can almost see which ones who will come back regardless of the amount of effort you give and the progress you make with them. Another reason is that, of all the units at the psych center, this was the most behavioral, especially in the evenings. You need to be able to handle not just the physical but the emotional stress from having to take down a child, some possibly very young, possibly put them in restraints, and giving them injections as they are screaming to be let up. NOT EASY. Definitely takes a strong person and as you saw from your experience in observation a lot of staff either walk in with bad attitudes or become burned out very quickly and forget that they are supposed to be therapeutic and rehabilitating. A true story I heard in class today that's not very rare and I have actually seen happen: A girl was upset because another girl got in her face, instead of talking with her and calming her down the staff egged her on and it ended up in a take down with the girl going to 4 point.. again, not uncommon to happen

So, I hope if you are seriously interested in the field you think about these things and if you can handle it.