Chapter 13. Case “A” (5)

March, 4th
In her 5th visit, A again talked about her difficulty living with her parents. “Whenever I tell them about my depressed feeling and fatigue, they always say, ‘All illness comes from the mind’”. A said that her parents’ attitude changed dramatically when she had some episodes of “syncope” and her school record dropped rather suddenly in high school. A’ s parents were called to the school where the principal blamed them by asking “In what way are you educating your daughter?” since that time, her parents, especially her mother has been very harsh toward A, telling her that she became “lazy and rebellious” toward her parents and they do not care about her any more. A’s relationship with her parents got deteriorated and her moving away from her parents in college was a blessing for both parties. A states that current life with her parents is like a torture for her, as they keep asking her when she is ready to move out and live on her own.
While I sympathetically listened to her, A gradually got relaxed and began to show some smile.
Two weeks later, A began weekly psychotherapy sessions with Dr.B along with her visit with me every other week. This arrangement was convenient for me as well, as my schedule was too tight to allow frequent sessions to discuss A's life in detail. I imagined that A might blame me for distancing myself from her by referring her to Dr.B, but she did not.
In one of the sessions in April, A revealed that she made a new boyfriend. A also said that she will have an interview for a new job. If accepted, A would be in charge of a floor of a small restaurant. I was not sure if A was ready for the job, but I left her to decide what to do. She was eventually accepted and took the job on a part time basis. She did well for a while but one day when she was given an advice by her boss for a minor mistake, she blanked out for a while. Although A managed to stay on the job, she broke up with her boyfriend, only a month after they met. A reported that when she told him that she sometimes feels like dying, he said that she is just “crazy” and did not want to have her around.