Patient History: A 15-year-old girl is presented by her mother. The girl has a 6-month history of becoming increasingly withdrawn and irritable. She is barely eating, wants to sleep and all the time complaining of being tired. She is no longer attending school as she cannot concentrate and cannot cope with having to deal with other people. She used to be a high achiever at school but recently her work has declined. Over the last few weeks, her parents have become even more concerned as at times the girl appears to be talking to herself and has become acutely distressed and tearful for no obvious reason.
Her mother reports that all was reasonably well up until 6 months ago. There were a number of family losses just before that time but she feels her daughter managed reasonably well. There is no family history of note. The mother is not aware of any substance misuse. Mental State…
