Animal Cruelty ' Therapy'?

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We have a pt who tortures animals (I'll spare you the details---it's nauseating)...and some staff members decided to let him have fruit as a substitute for his urges. He is given a spoon or a pencil and stabs, mutilates, smashes, etc the fruit in this hazy-eyed gaze.

Somehow this doesn't seem right to me. Isn't this feeding in to destructive urges? Sure, I'd much rather see an orange violated than an animal...but this doesn't sit well with me. Any opinions?

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Specializes in PACU, ED.

Well, it's better to give him an orange than a hamster. However, I think a psych consult might be better still.

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Well, it's better to give him an orange than a hamster. However, I think a psych consult might be better still.

He's already on a psych unit. Soon to be released :uhoh3:

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Darn I thought I put this on the psych page. Sorry guys. Mods could you move it for me please?

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Specializes in icu.

by law if you release a stalker from a psych hosp you have to let their victim know. i'm wondering if you're allowed to let the local humane society know that this guy is around? i would think this guy would be sent to state or strongly sedated. don't most serial killers start off being cruel to animals?

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by law if you release a stalker from a psych hosp you have to let their victim know. i'm wondering if you're allowed to let the local humane society know that this guy is around? i would think this guy would be sent to state or strongly sedated. don't most serial killers start off being cruel to animals?

Nope, we can't do that. HIPAA plus he's a minor. The first line in the H and P reads something like: "This is the most disturbed child I have ever worked with".

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Specializes in icu.

is there abuse in his home? some kids act out because they are immatating their parents behavior.

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Is his psychiatrist and tx team aware that staff are allowing him to displace his aggressive urges onto objects? If so, is this "intervention" outlined in his tx plan? I would hope this is behavior is not a recommended form of therapy. Object aggression is still a form of phsyical aggression and should be taken as a serious threat, particularly in violent individuals. I recommmend you follow your chain of command and let it be known this child is stabbing, mutilating items with weapons (pencil/spoon) and this is not only being condoned but encouraged by the following staff then name them. I would not want these staff members on my unit - who knows what else they are encouraging, even in good faith.

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Is his psychiatrist and tx team aware that staff are allowing him to displace his aggressive urges onto objects? If so, is this "intervention" outlined in his tx plan? I would hope this is behavior is not a recommended form of therapy. Object aggression is still a form of phsyical aggression and should be taken as a serious threat, particularly in violent individuals. I recommmend you follow your chain of command and let it be known this child is stabbing, mutilating items with weapons (pencil/spoon) and this is not only being condoned but encouraged by the following staff then name them. I would not want these staff members on my unit - who knows what else they are encouraging, even in good faith.

Thank you! You articulated exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn't find the words. Yes the tx team knows about it, but it is NOT in the tx plan. But when I addressed this, the response was...'well how is that different from letting someone punch a pillow when they are angry?" Well, I think we are dealing with a different motivation in that case. Most people are not COMPELLED to punch pillows, and if they do, it is a momentary, occasional incident. This kid is mutilating fruit everyday to substitute for his compulsion to mutilate animals (of which he says he kills up to 4 each day by trapping rodents, birds and cats). To me there is a difference, although i am not big on punching pillows either.

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Yes yes- Lovinghands gave excellent advice. This poor person needs major strategies to help control the aggressive urges, not feed them further. Aside from medications, adjunctive therapies such as tai chi, movement therapy of many sorts-- seem to help. Interestingly I have so many friends who have had aggressive little boys-and a few have been subject to maternal deprivation in orphanages. Surely there is a link of early malnutrition as well. But indeed the animal abuse is a harbinger of worse things to come.

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oh this makes me SO glad I am not a psych nurse. half the time I think psych is so easy, but i don't understand half of it. one time a nurse ( on a locked inpatient unit) said to me. open patient, insert med...that's what we do. the mental health workers are the ones who know about this spych stuff. GREAT! I know a couple great psych nurses but... wow. i'd hate to run into that kid at the grocery store...

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For those wondering about this boy's background: It's sketchy. Dad is in the picture, mom lost custody and lives in another state. There's no contact. Don't know alot about Dad. He seems to be in denial, saying there is not any real evidence that the boy did those things, that he's probably saying it to get attention. However, Dad did it admit that the boy DID hang one of the family dogs in the closet (but she survived so according to Dad, that doesn't "count") and he has "only" found 3 decomposing reptiles under the bed! Personally it sounds to me like those 'trophies' that psychopath killers keep, but hey, I'm just a nurse.

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