Systematic case studies of two clients in a family-based psychotherapy clinic located within a public high school

Social aggression amongst female adolescents in middle school is considered to be a normative experience during this period. For some, these experiences can have an extensive impact, thus negatively affecting their mental health and academic performance. Due to its often subtle nature, social aggression can be misconstrued as harmless behavior and teachers/parents observing problems in these early adolescents may not immediately pick up on the presence of social aggression. School settings are often not well equipped to assist students who are having particularly severe problems with social aggression, and families may not be familiar with what care is available to their adolescent. The current systematic case studies document and discuss two cases involving eighth grade female adolescents who received interpersonal-therapy-focused treatment at a family-based mental health clinic located in a public high school for issues involving social aggression with peers. Results indicate that while across both cases only a few of the results on the quantitative measures showed statistically significant improvement, in both cases a majority of quantitative measures moved in a positive direction. Also and importantly, qualitative analysis showed important gains in both cases. Both differences in patterns of change across the two cases as well as common themes between them are discussed. Overall, these case studies suggest that, within the context of a family-based, psychotherapy clinic located in a public high school, families and their adolescents can derive benefits from a brief intervention designed to reduce the effects of social aggression.Psy.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Jonathan Akira Murakam