Speak by Laurie halse Anderson
Speak by Laurie halse Anderson
The book delved into for this paper is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and the main character is Melinda Sordino, a young teenage girl undergoing a painful crisis in her life as she transition from middle school to high school. As a freshman in high school, Melinda is the main lead character in Laurie Halse Anderson’s book title Speak. Before transitioning to high school in the summer, Melinda undergoes a painful ordeal of rape by a senior student by the name of Andy Evans. as a result of traumatic pain by the ordeal and hesitation to open up, she plunges into a dark pit of depression which numbs her to unable speak with ease, and this results in her to express the pain through body language with physical acts such as lips and nails biting. However, all is not lost for Melinda; after self-examination and devotion to art, she can outgrow the ordeal and emerge a victorious survivor rather than a victim. Although in a hard way, she learns that the only option to avenge evil is to speak out loudly against it.
Melinda undergoes shame, stigma, ostracism, neglect, isolation, and discrimination, which makes her self-esteem drastically subside; hence she feels withdrawn from her peers, thus becoming antisocial. The whole family and school setup are insensitive and blind to her struggles; hence no special attention is given to her.
The whole event revolving around Melinda gives the basis for discussion and possible remedy for her after diagnosis. Since Melinda is a young girl, coupled with the ordeal she underwent, standing back to her feet can be very tough and grueling hence the need for special medical attention to heal.
Melinda is supposed to undergo a treatment regimen that is inclusive of counseling.
The plan should be collaborative to include all stakeholders, including parents, guardians, teachers and administrators, and the community.
Treatment plan
Considering Melinda is still a minor and unable to decide that might impact her life, her parent’s consent may be required before any treatment is administered. Considering Melinda’s setting involves school and home, the best therapy plan should involve both parents, teachers, administrators, and the community as a whole. The treatment plan should have objectives and targets it aims to achieve at the end.
Assessment
Before any treatment is administered, a proper diagnosis will be required to be conducted on Melinda to understand the genesis of her underlying mental issues. the assessment will involve both home and school to understand
her deeply since her life revolves around those places.
The assessment has to be conducted after getting the parent’s consent to not infringe on Melinda’s rights to privacy. The first assessment will be interpersonal between Melinda and the mental health specialist, whereby the specialist will query Melinda about her past and present to understand the root cause of the problem. The talk should b in a friendly place and a friendly manner to open up and vent out her struggles. The next assessment should involve both parents to understand if they know what their daughter is undergoing and probably if they have noticed any behavioral change. The final assessment should involve Melinda’s friends at home and school and, finally, teachers.
The assessment should be the one to determine the treatment plan administration since for any treatment to be given; a proper diagnosis is supposed to be done. For Melinda’s instance, after conducting the assessment,
it is realized both Melinda’s home and school life aren’t accommodative to enable her to cope with life and open up when one has some life struggles. For instance, at home, her mother
is very busy and has no allocated time for her to know her daughter’s wellbeing, and the dad is not much engaged but is so passive to home affairs and gives no attention to their daughter. Melinda’s home seems to be troubling her since she is transitioning to adulthood; her bedroom hasn’t been refurbished to accommodate her transitioning since she says it is childish. Melinda friends at school and
Home discrimination against her leads her to go into isolation to the extent of abandoning her academic responsibilities, which poorly affects her academic performance. Some of the teachers seem not to be friendly, and this drives her further away.
School-based intervention
Delivering universal intervention programs can be very challenging; hence, school engagement and dedication are important to keep them moving for long-duration. Therefore, programs work better if teachers offer (Fazel et al.,2014; Pearson et al.,2015).On many occasions, teachers can help identify mental health challenges in their students and help them by referring them to the best support sources externally. However, some evidence suggests that teachers are not well-positioned to detect problems since they are primarily designated to teach and produce academic success among their students, but when provided with relevant training, support, and enough time, they can work together with a mental health specialist to support mental health and well- being in their students(Fazel et al.,2014).teachers can have a huge impact on psychosocial and academic performance when mandated with programs and activities of mental health. Poor recruitment of teachers and the pressure exerted on schools have resulted in schools not having ample time, training, and continued support to undertake this role. Preventative interventions can be less effective when teachers administer than when done by a specialist(Stallard et al.,2014).
When accurately implemented, school-based intervention is the most effective, and they include; putting a focus on positive mental health, involvement of community through coordinated work with external agencies, beginning early with young children and working together with parents education (Weare and Nind,2011).schools that integrate social and emotional learning programs indicates scores increase in the standardized test compared to scores from school which does not have these interventions hence mental health promotion has academic benefits in schools(Durlak et al.,2011).
Social and emotional development
For children to achieve positive life results, which include educational achievement, good health, social wellbeing, and employment, they should have social and emotional skills support which in addition helps to avoid and minimize social and behavioral hardship(Clarke et al.,2015).in which Melinda seems not to have, hence having torrid experience.
According to clear evidence, school-based strategies have potential benefits when designed to groom a child or young person’s emotional and social learning. The strategies include the development of skills and personal character and reducing behavioral and emotional challenges(Banerjee et al.,2016).
There is a need to have comprehensive programs in schools to help students develop emotional and social skills well-being, which includes a curriculum that puts together social and emotional skills development, such as conflict resolution and coping and problem-solving within all subject areas. Provide support to parents or guardians to develop their parenting skills. Teachers and practitioners should be trained to help them develop skills in managing behaviors and building blossoming relationships with students.
Melinda undergoes bullying and violence in the form of rape from a senior student who should protect her when they attend a party; hence this shows the school didn’t have integrated activities to support the development of social and emotional skills wellbeing which could prevent bullying and violence in all areas of both schools and at home.
After undergoing the rape ordeal, Melinda should undergo problem-oriented group sessions delivered by a specialist such as an educational psychologist or those dealing with adolescent mental health service providers to assist her in trying to overcome that trauma of her innocence betrayal and provide her with appropriate healing therapy.
Digital health intervention
This can help Melinda in her treatment if she doesn’t like face–to–face talk therapy sessions whereby the information, support, and treatment care of neurocognitive, emotional, decisional, and behavioral for her physical and mental health problems are delivered via a digital platform such as mobile phone or video conferencing which are more popular with a younger generation.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
This is a psychotherapeutic treatment that assists patients in learning overcome destructive and disturbing patterns of thoughts that negatively influence their behavior and emotions after identifying them. It focuses on altering the negative automatic thoughts that can worsen emotional hardship, anxiety, and depression. These spontaneous negative thoughts have a negative influence on the person’s mood. The automatic negative thoughts are identified, challenged,, and replaced with more realistic and objective thoughts through this treatment.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy involves different approaches such as;
(a)cognitive therapy – focuses on establishing and changing inaccurate or skewed thinking patterns, behaviors, and emotional responses (Runic et al.,2016).
(b)multimodal therapy, suggests that psychological issues must be treated by addressing seven
different but interconnected modalities such as effect, behavior, sensation, cognition, interpersonal factors, imagery, and biological considerations.
(c) rational behavior therapy, which includes establishing irrational beliefs, actively challenging these beliefs, and finally learning to identify and alter these patterns.
(d) dialectal behavior therapy, which addresses thoughts and behaviors while incorporating strategies such as emotional control and mindfulness.
Practicing new skills
This is another set that would help Melinda cope with her trauma, for instance, where she learns arts which frees her to open up and come to terms with what happened to her—identifying and practicing new skills that can be applied to reality to keep one engaged and avoid a relapse into depression.
Goal setting
This is an important step in the recovery process from a mental challenge and helps one improve overall health and life. A therapist can assist one in goal-setting skills by teaching one how to identify and differentiate between short– and long–term goals and the journey to their attainment. It keeps one engaged and focused.
Problem – solving
Learning this skill can assist someone in identifying and addressing challenges that arise from life difficulties, both small and big, and reduce the negative effect of psychological and physical illness. Problem-solving involves problem identification, possible solutions proposal, assessment of both strengths and weaknessesweaknesses of each possible solution, and solution implementation. Such skill helps someone with mental illness to be able to overcome problems whenever they arise.
Self – monitoring
It tracks treatment progress by checking on behaviors, symptoms, and experiences over time and sharing them with the therapist. Self–monitoring provides crucial information to the therapist to administer the best therapy. It can also help indicate if the treatment is working(Lindgreen et al.,2018).
Behavioral therapy
In this method, the focus is specifically directed on behaviors and feelings and thoughts that might instigate them. The Behavioral therapist tends to focus on the specific learned trait and how the surroundings impact those behaviors. the main two types are operant and classical conditioning
Psychodynamic therapy
This kind of treatment aims to eradicate psychic tension byby identifying the unconscious content of a client’sclient’s psyche. This therapy is always brief and less intensive than psychoanalysis, and its origins are in psychoanalysis.
Humanistic therapy
It centers on maximum human potential and explicitly focuses on the context of human development, emphasizing subjective meaning and rejection of determination, which relies on positive growth instead of pathology.
Eclectic therapy
It is a recent form where the specialist puts together many different types of therapies. It works best in specific patient situations instead of relying on one discipline method.
Family therapy
this form of therapy is helpful moreso to children and teens, and it functions well within family group dynamics. This approach is important to let the family be involved and be aware of their children’s wellbeing.
Couples therapy
This therapy approach could also be appropriate for Melinda’s parents to be counseled on matters about their daughter’s affairs since it is due to their negligence that Melinda suffers and has no one to run to to vent her ordeal.
Signs and symptoms of depression in teens
An irritable mood is associated with a depressed teenager since he or she may exhibit hostility, irritability, and anger outbursts. When in this situation, they get angry for no proper reason.
Withdrawing from some people, they mostly tend to isolate themselves and be in solitary, but they maintain a friendship with few. They even dissociate away from their parents.
High sensitivity to criticism whereby they become intolerant to sentiments that talk ill about them.
Having pains and aches that can’t be explained.
Conclusion
This topic tends to highlight very broad and complex issues pertaining to child and adolescent depression that is very predominant in our society and tend to go unnoticed until it reaches fever pitch. It is a sad
state of affairs; hence proactive and collaborative approach should be put in place before things go haywire. Mental health is the new global pandemic, if not yet declared, because it is ravaging society to the core. A very comprehensive approach should be employed to cater to a pluralistic and multicultural technological society. School-based prevention and early intervention programs for depression should be integrated into school programs so as to make it part of their system. There is still much work to be done in order to fully grasp and understand child and adolescent depression and its causes. More effective evaluation tools and prevention programs should be made available in order to ease the fight against depression. Due to the social and health implications of this menace, there is a need to make a concerted effort to furthermore research in this complicated terrain.
Reference
Fazel, M., Hoagwood, K., Stephan, S., & Ford, T. (2014). Mental health interventions in schools 1: Mental health interventions in schools in high-income countries. The Lancet. Psychiatry, 1(5), 377–387. http://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70312-8 Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477835/ [accessed 25 June 2017]
Patalay, P., Gondek, D., Moltrecht, B. et al. (2017). Mental health provision in schools: approaches and interventions in 10 European countries. Global Mental Health, 4, e10. http://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2017.6 Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454766/ [accessed 25 June 2017]
- Rnic K, Dozois DJ, Martin RA. Cognitive distortions, humor styles, and depression. Eur J Psychol. 2016;12(3):348-62. doi:10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1118