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Get the most interesting and important stories from the 窪蹋勛圖厙 of 窪蹋勛圖厙.Patients at Severe End of the Autism Spectrum Find Support at Specialty Clinic
David and Emily Tate had run out of options.
Since the birth of their daughter, Joy, 16 years ago, the Tates had struggled to manage her sudden, intense outbursts that grew into a tsunami of fury and frustration. Joy, who is on the autism spectrum, didnt always have the ability to express her needs and understand the tumult of emotions that coursed through her young body. Despite the best efforts of her parents and a cadre of teachers, therapistsand psychiatrists (Emily stopped counting professionals at 15), Joys emotions daily whirled her into a destructive force that no one could contain or control. Most local psychiatrists couldnt or wouldnt help. The family would sit in local emergency rooms when Joy was in the throes of rage only to be sent home because the psychiatric unit wouldnt take teens with autism. Probably about one-third of people with autism demonstrate severe behavior issues like Joys. Behavioral meltdowns can become so extreme in this subgroup that one in three are hospitalized for psychiatric reasons before their 18th birthdays.
Emily and David placed their hopes in an Ohio residential treatment facility for teens on the spectrum, a three-hour drive from their home east of 窪蹋勛圖厙.
It was one of the hardest things we ever had to do, Emily says.
While Joy was there, her behavior deteriorated even further. One week into her stay, a late-night phone call from the facility informed the Tates that Joy had gotten so violent they had no choice but to hospitalize her in a psychiatric unit. The Tates had heard of for people with neurodevelopmental disorders, but their insurance would never approve a stay until now. At the time, Joys parents thought this was the worst thing that could happen to their daughter.
But what started as an awful turn of events became a glimmer of hope. When Emily and David arrived in 窪蹋勛圖厙 to visit Joy, they met with psychiatrist Joseph Pierri. From that moment, everything changed.
If we wouldnt have met Dr. Pierri, and [Joy] wouldnt have made it to the Merck center, I dont think we would be where were at today, David says.
A bespectacled, soft-spoken 窪蹋勛圖厙 of 窪蹋勛圖厙 assistant professor of with a salt-and-pepper beard, Pierri is one of the many Merck providers who becomes the calm in the storm for families of children with autism whose behavior has become too difficult to safely manage at home. Pierri is medical director of the Merck Inpatient Unit, an acute care psychiatric facility. His teams primary goals are to adjust medications, identify potential triggers of behavioral problemsand improve patient and family safety after discharge.
When the Merck unit opened its doors in 1974, it was the only specialized inpatient unit for people with autism in the United States. More than 40 years later, only a handful of such units exist across the country. Part of what continues to make Pitts unit unique is its commitment to helping affected individuals across the life span.
about the unit and promising research to help families in Pitt Med magazine.