Case 8: Mental health problem

Information for client

Mrs. Lee was married for 10 years. The couple had poor marital relationship and they
had frequent conflict over the years. She knew they would divorce one day, but she
still could not accept when her husband told her that he wanted a divorce because his
girlfriend was pregnant a year ago. The husband moved out and their divorce
procedure was settled recently.

Mrs. Lee could not focus on her job as a nurse in a public hospital. Her boss saw her
weep when she was on duty and told her to have a long leave because it would
endanger other people’s life if she kept on like this.

She took a long vacation leave because she did not see she was contributive to her
work. She stayed home and slept most of the time. She was still tired no matter how
much she slept. She did not bother to take care of her son who was 7. She thought that
he was good at self-care anyway. She felt so ashamed to be his mother.

Two weeks before her hospitalization, she spent most of her time staying in bed. She
did not take care of her son and just left the money on the table for her son to buy
food. Her son went to school and told his teacher about the mother. Mrs. Lee’s sister
and the school social worker came to visit her. Her son had rash on his hands and legs
and she did not notice about. Her sister said the boy hid himself under the table when
he saw his mother cry. He was worried that the mother would commit suicide. In fact,
she had the idea of suicide from time to time when she was staying in bed.

Her son was admitted to the child psychiatric ward for his depressive mood. She
started to see the psychiatrist after she was discharged from the hospital. Her boss
visited her; he encouraged her to do some physical exercise. She started to swim again
which was the sport she used to play at school. It was hard at the beginning, but she
liked the way when she swam.

She was responsive to the medication, although her sleeping was shallow and had
many unusual dreams. Her drug compliance was good. She missed her son who was
still staying in the child psychiatric ward and visited him very often.

Guide for the client:

Imagine you are the client,
 What are the major emotions of you?
 What are your expectations of the worker?
 Notice how do you feel about the worker at the interview