Mother helped in the treatment – daughter recovered – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio

We are sitting in a living room somewhere in Rogaland. Together with a mother. news has decided that she will remain anonymous. Out of consideration for the daughter, who has suffered for a long time with trauma after severe bullying at school. The daughter had a lot of stomach pain. Didn’t want to go to school. Cry for the smallest thing. And one day came the words that parents fear most: She didn’t want to live anymore. The mother applied for a place at the child and youth psychiatric outpatient clinic (BUP), but was refused. The daughter had “only” mild and moderate symptoms. – She has experienced things that have been very traumatic, says the mother. But they were given another opportunity: Mother and daughter were offered to take part in a study. A completely new method for treating children who had been exposed to violence and trauma was to be tested in Norway. From before, it has only been used (external link) in the USA. Instead of giving the child traditional therapy, the mother herself should be a kind of therapist. The method therefore assumes that the parents are given a large part of the responsibility for running the treatment. In addition to helping the children, the method should also make the parents better understand what is bothering the children and how they can help their children. If the parents have been violent or are the cause of the child’s trauma, they should not participate in the treatment. Several have experienced violence In 2021, 5.9 per cent of children and young people stated that they were bullied at school, according to the Student Survey. In an article (external link) about loneliness, mental stress and headaches, researchers found that 7-8% of girls and boys had been exposed to bullying. Many children and young people exposed to violence and other traumatic events struggle a lot (external link) with headaches, stomachaches, sleep difficulties, exhaustion and other physical ailments in the time afterwards. Pronounced physical complaints in children and young people are signs that something is wrong. In some cases, this involves violence, abuse or bullying. – For many of the children who come to BUP, it has been a long time since the trauma occurred until they receive treatment. We wanted to investigate a method that could help the children at an earlier stage, so that they do not have to wait until the difficulties have become too great before they get help, says Silje Mørup Ormhaug, senior researcher at the National Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress (NKVTS). – The treatment in BUP is good, but the capacity is not good enough. The treatment method we have tested will both remedy BUP and most importantly; children get help earlier, says Ormhaug. Photo: Kristoffer Sandven / NKVTS In the study, a workbook has been developed with very specific tasks that the researchers think have a therapeutic effect. – Parents are given responsibility for carrying out these tasks together with their children. This takes place under close guidance and follow-up from a therapist, says Ormhaug. “Terribly scared” Two days a week, at fixed times for just over six months, the mother and daughter worked together to go through assigned worksheets. On one of the sheets, the child must rate how scared he/she is on a scale from 0 to 4. Parents play an important role in the child’s adaptation after trauma, but many parents feel helpless and unsure of how they can best help, the study says . Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news On another, the child must draw where on the body the good and bad feelings are. The method has been developed for children aged 7–12 who have clinically relevant symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTSS). Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news – At first I thought that this was a bit challenging, and I noticed that it was very time-consuming. There was a lot of work at home, but I was able to cope with it, says the mother. She also received advice and help from professionals during the process. – My daughter and I had several meetings with a therapist and we worked together at home between each meeting with the therapist. It was a combination, says the mother. At the beginning of the first conversation, the daughter wrote 4 on the sheet. It means that she was “terribly afraid”. She then wrote 1, i.e. “a little scared”, before she ended up with 0 and “nothing”. – The difference has been like night and day. From an everyday life characterized by sadness and great difficulties to being able to have a completely normal and functioning everyday life with joy in life, says the mother. – Looks promising 82 children and families in 11 municipalities have participated in the study. According to senior researcher Ormhaug, the experiences are good: the children report that they have fewer trauma-related complaints and that they function better in their daily lives. The parents say that they have become better able to help their children, they understand the children better and they have gained a better relationship with the children. The municipalities believe the method is well suited to giving children help at an early stage. The project “Early help for trauma-exposed children” (external link) has received NOK 9 million from the government, so now Ormhaug wants more municipalities to join the next study. The aim is to roll out the method in all municipalities. – The method seems promising, but we do not have enough knowledge to say for sure whether it is better and more effective than the offer that already exists today. Therefore, we must expand the study so that we get a new group to compare with, she says. Back in the living room somewhere in Rogaland, the mother is flipping through the two folders that she and her daughter worked through in the project. – Is your daughter completely done with the bad feelings now? – Yes, I think she has put it behind her in a positive sense. She is confident in herself and thinks positively of herself, she says. 5,500 more new patients There has been a large increase in the number of referrals to BUP in connection with the pandemic, and many have more serious ailments than before. At the same time that the waiting time is increasing, more patients are getting help, according to the Ministry of Health and Care Services (HOD). – There were close to 5,500 more new patients in 2021 compared to 2019. That is an increase of 21 per cent, says State Secretary Karl Kristian Bekeng. – Waiting times in BUP have increased by five days in the second term of this year, compared to the same period last year, says Bekeng. Photo: Esten Borgos / BORGOS FOTO AS In next year’s budget, they propose to increase allocations to hospitals by NOK 2 billion for activity growth and NOK 700 million in basic funding. At the same time, the government wants to continue the work under the auspices of NKVTS. – We see that this is a good and efficient way of providing help that reaches entire families. Our aim is that the increased allocation of NOK 9 million will help more municipalities to adopt the method, he says.



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