Provisional Diagnostic Profile on a Young Adult

Patient I., the subject of this Provisional Diagnostic Profile, was accepted for intensive 5-times-weekly therapy under the Young Adult Scheme at the Anna Freud Centre. The information on which the Profile is based was collected in several diagnostic interviews, conducted by two diagnosticians. This is the usual procedure for those wishing to be considered for the scheme. The Profile is written shortly after the patient is accepted on to the scheme and follows the form of the Provisional Diagnostic Profile devised by Anna Freud.

20-year-old I. referred herself, having heard about the Clinic through a friend. She knew that the Clinic offered 5-times-weekly treatment and wished to be considered for this. The immediate precipitant was a crisis caused by the ending of a 9-month relationship with a boyfriend. At the beginning of the relationship I. and her boyfriend had been exceptionally close, spending many hours of every day together. However, towards the end the boyfriend began to want to spend at least some time independently of her. This led to arguments between them in which I. felt misunderstood, and she ended up by attacking him physically, which rapidly led to the end of the relationship. I. reacted to this by becoming quite depressed, feeling very dejected and not wanting to go anywhere or do anything. In addition she developed a fear of other people. She became convinced that people disliked and despised her, even relatively close friends, and so she avoided them. This state of bewildered helplessness lasted for about three weeks. She was very frightened by the experience and it was this that determined her to seek some help. She was aware, too, of more long-standing difficulties. Her depressed state when her boyfriend left her was only an exaggeration of the low moods she had frequently suffered in the past. She knew too that her difficulties with her boyfriend were likely to be repeated in future relationships, and she felt she must someh