Reasonable solutions to my little one with encopresis, which to the lay person means he shits himself.
1. It's a medical condition.
2. He has been sexually compromised.
3. Inappropriate anger management tool.
Or
4. Regression.
After my last post I charged myself with gaining insight into my patient's pathology through dramatic intervention. What impresses me most about drama therapy is that it can do in one session what it can take weeks to accomplish in traditional talk therapy.
I decided that it was time for us to do some role play. And without even realizing it he started to play out his entire relationship with his mom right before my eyes. And suddenly I began to see the poop as a way to keep himself infantalized. He began to talk like a baby and became very dependent.
When we started to process the play, he acknowledged that he wishes it could be just him and his mom forever. No brother, no step dad, no grandma. He is seeking to monopolize all of her attention. And pooping in one's pants gets one lots of attention.Just from that acknowledgement alone, he has gone four consecutive days without soiling himself. Now the trick is going to be to build his ego strength and improve his social skills in 2 weeks!!!!
I am pleased to report that my patient has gone an entire week without an episode of encopresis! We have been working on his ego strength and family dynamics - expressively. It has been and continues to be a worthwhile endeavor. I expect that he will relapse once before transitioning the behavior all together. But I do believe or are least hope that he will prevail in the end.
ReplyDelete