Case Study One: Stressed-Out Sue

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''Sue', 23, came to me in a highly agitated state complaining that she felt she was on the verge of 'going crazy.'
She reported the following problems:

• Feeling close to tears much of the time


• Irrational thoughts


• Feeling depressed sometimes


• Feeling manic some of the time.

I asked her about her routine and she told me that she got up at 6.00 am everyday to catch the early train to her job in a busy IT company in the city. The rest of the conversation went something like this:
Me: "So you just grab breakfast and get on the train then?"
Sue: "No I never bother with breakfast, I grab a coffee on the train."
Me: "Gosh, you must get really hungry by lunch time!"
Sue: "I don't bother with lunch I just work straight through and eat a sandwich on the train at the end of the day"
Me: " What time do you get home?"
Sue: "About 9.00 pm then, to unwind I drink a bottle of wine so I can get a decent night's sleep."
Me: "And how long have you been feeling like this?"
Sue: "About six months!"
Me: "How long did you say you'd been in your present job?"
Sue: "Wow! It must be around six months now."

So, Sue was getting up at six, skipping breakfast, skipping lunch, grabbing fast food on the homeward journey and then drinking herself to sleep. At weekends she slept and caught up with friends but usually felt too lethargic to do very much.

I suggested to Sue that continually ignoring our mind and body's basic needs usually has severe consequences. I suggested that, as an 'experiment' she do the following:

Start having breakfast

Take at least half an hour for lunch

Use a ' power nap' relaxation exercise I'd taught her after her mid day meal

Keep her work day evenings free of alcohol and just drink during the evening at the weekends

She also mentioned that she was thinking of asking her boss if she could have one day during the week working from home. I enthusiastically agreed that this was a great idea as she would then have an extra travel free day.

I saw Sue the following week. She was transformed. She beamed at me, looking years younger. She was sleeping better without the alcohol, she was eating regularly and was now working at home on Wednesdays. She said her moods had totally stabilized and she was no longer tearful. This was two years ago.

I bumped into her recently and she told me she was still "checking the oil and water before worrying about an engine breakdown!"

Other case study: Loner
Next, 9 Basic Human Needs