Client Testimonial 8/30/14

When Christina, an attractive woman in her 30’s with strawberry-blond hair, sought services at FCS she was very, very sad and disconsolate. According to the therapist who met her, she was the saddest person I ever met.”   She had been grieving ever since her mother, to whom she was very close, died in 2012.  She had taken care of her chronically ill mother since she was 16 years old.   When the mother finally did pass on, Christina “never got over it.”  She could sense the pain in her chest. She would wake up crying and cry herself to sleep. She would say to herself, “Why did God take her? I tried so hard and so long to take care of her. It’s unfair.”  Every morning upon awakening she would go look for her mother in the mother’s empty bedroom.

Her grief affected the whole family.  Her children would want to go see the grave but Christina couldn’t bring herself to go.  When she tried to take them she would become nervous with palpitations.  If Christina did not go out, the kids did not go out. And Christina couldn’t go out because she believed that it “wouldn’t be right to have fun now. I should stay home.”   Relatives stopped coming to visit because, as one uncle said, Christina looks too much like her mom and it reminded the relatives of the person they lost.

She added that some of her sadness came from losing her sense of self. “I lost myself. What is my purpose? “Who is Christina now?”

By the 4th session with Christina, the therapist was surprised to see a beaming, smiling woman whose eyes glittered with joy―a truly happy person. A short self-evaluation showed that she no longer belonged in the group of people who used mental health services.  She described how she now plays with the kids and takes them places.  She is planning to teach children at the church school, as well as go get a GED.  She can sleep through the night and when she wakes up she seldom goes to look for her mom in the mom’s bedroom.  She and her dad talk more.  Relatives have returned to visit. The emptiness she had when she started is almost gone. Now she considers herself about “10% sad.”