EDF5531: Megan is an 18-year-old female living at home with her parents and older brother She is in her first year of a Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree: Cognitive Behavior Therapies Essay, MU, Singapore

Megan is an 18-year-old female living at home with her parents and older brother She is in her first year of a Bachelor of Biomedical Science degree. Megan is part of an accelerated student program. Her academic mentor has been worried because Megan was at risk of failing her semester and has made a referral for counseling.

Megan reports having had a low mood since the end of last year which has
progressively worsened. The onset of depressive symptoms began soon after Megan found out she did not receive entry to her first choice preference of Medicine. She developed symptoms characterized by sadness, crying, social withdrawal, and severe self-criticism.

In the last 6 months, it has become increasingly difficult for Megan to engage in her studies. Megan had always been a bright student throughout her school years but is now at risk of failing her current semester.

Megan had been close with a group of good school friends who also attend the same university. However, recently Megan has been declining social invitations from her friends and now no longer receives many invitations to social gatherings.

“I didn’t want to go out, putting on a fake smile when I felt so rotten inside. After a while, my friends stopped asking me to come out so I don’t think they really care anyway.” Megan reports recent comfort-eating and has gained a few kilos and is now slightly overweight.

Megan describes her parents as busy. “They both work in high-powered jobs as doctors, so they have never been around much. They work so hard to provide for us, and I wouldn’t want to burden them with my struggles anyway. I’d be too ashamed. At least when I was little I could talk to my Nanny if I was sad.” Megan acknowledged that her parents set very high standards that she finds unrelenting and difficult to live up to. “Once I got a 90% on a test.

I remember showing Dad, and he just said ‘Why didn’t you get 100%?’” She reports that her older brother was Dux of his school and is in his final year of medicine. Megan tells you “I remember at his school graduation ceremony when he got the Dux award, Mum saying to me ‘You see? People with talent like your brother are winners! He is really someone worth knowing. The cream always rises to the top. When you have a talent you will always succeed.’”

Recently, Megan has developed a pattern of staying up until 1-2 am either playing games on her phone or watching YouTube videos and sleeping in until almost midday. She feels tired and unmotivated most of the time. She has been missing most of her University lectures.

‘What’s the point anyway, I have already missed so many it won’t make a difference. And when I go, I can’t focus or understand a lot of the material’. She has been procrastinating on completing her assessments and this has led to recent late submissions with penalties.

Megan gets caught up in thoughts ‘I’ll never be as smart as my brother and parents, I am already a failure anyway‘, ‘If I don’t eventually get into medicine, I’ll be a loser. I might as well quit Uni.’