Susie is an 8-year-old Asian American girl; the youngest child in a family of four older siblings. Her parents are both high school teachers. When Susie was 5 years old, she was hospitalized for three weeks for a serious illness. Since that time, she has been in good health.
Susie is extremely shy and avoids situations in which she needs to interact with new people or large groups. She worries about making mistakes in her schoolwork and becomes extremely anxious when taking tests. Sometimes, she becomes so nervous that her heart races; she begins to tremble and has difficulty breathing. Susie is also afraid of the dark and does not want to be alone in her room at night. She often requires the presence of one of her parents or older sisters until she falls asleep.…show more content… She is a perfectionist that has a fear of making mistakes in her schoolwork and experiences severe test anxiety. As a result, sometimes she has episodes in which her heart rate increases causing her to tremble and have difficulty breathing. It was also reported that Susie requires one of her four older sisters or either of her parents to stay with her until she falls asleep due to her fear of the dark.
From a biological perspective, the therapist might inquire more about the illness that Susie that hospitalized for at the age of 5. The therapist might ask the parents if they or other members of their family had the same illness as a child. The reason for this is to determine whether the illness was genetically inclined to occur. For instance, if Susie was hospitalized due to an episode of depression perhaps one of her parents live with depression and passed along at least one short (s) and one long (l) serotonin transporter gene which increases one’s chance of developing depression (Nolen-Hoelsema,
