The f word
THE “F” WORD - "f" for facebook
“I once saw a lone daisy struggling to grow in a crack in the pavement.”
“What did that bring to mind?” Dr Mary Hope asks her patient.
“Oh, it’s a symbol of how we can overcome diversity and are able to grow anywhere.” Teresa leans back in the amply upholstered chair, clearly waiting for praise from the psychiatrist for this insightful response.
Dr Hope makes a note in the file: ‘Subject relates to the world through the lens of facebook.’ Looking up from her file, she asks: “Do you think that you could, like the flower, grow independently?”
“We are not meant to be alone, Dr Hope.”
“Who are the people that you need in your life, Teresa?” Dr Hope asks gently, leaning into the space between them.
“I need my family.” Teresa tugs at a fast integrating tissue.
“Do you have contact with your family?”
Snort-laughing, Teresa fixes Dr Hope with a doleful stare. “How can I? You took my iPhone away from me. I feel isolated.”
“Isolated in what way, Teresa?”
“My children confiscated my laptop. It was a cruel thing to do. That is why I had to use my iPhone to post my farewell message on facebook after drinking the pills.”
“Your family was only acting in your best interest, Teresa.”
“I miss my family. But, I never want to see my children ever again!”
“I am not referring to your over one thousand facebook friends.”
“For the past ten years, they’re my family! Although we’ve never met face-to-face, they’ve always been there for me. I can’t live without them!” Teresa loudly blows her nose on the remnants of the tissue.
‘IAD is indicated, with secondary symptoms of mild dysthymia. The severe bout of depression was triggered by the withdrawal experienced when the means to pursue the cyber-relationship addiction, was suddenly removed by the family. At age forty-five, the subject displays signs of arrested emotional development commonly associated with an addiction such as can be found among alcoholics. Patient is to remain on suicide watch,’ Dr Hope writes and closes the file on that day’s session.
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