This woman troubles me deeply.
We see women like this, but a few years older, come into my place of work all the time when things get far too much for them to cope with. I would hate for this to happen to Gabby.
As we are frontline medical we don’t often get to know too much of their history or what happens beyond initial admission, however when there is a wait for a bed (and with pts being transferred quite literally across the country for MH beds, they can be with us for sometime before our trust gets close to the fine - up to £500,000 - deadline (12hrs from initial MH ED assessment - in our case - to having a bed) or shoved off to a private bed) we do occasionally get to listen to what’s going on in their lives.
These women have usually gone through long periods of loneliness, employment and friendship issues plus they are bitterly disappointed with their lot. This is not to be sniffed at, this is obviously very hard for these individuals to live with.
I’m not going to get the DSM5 out and start diagnosing on the Internet because 1.) that’s not my specialism and 2.) it’s highly unethical, that said I would encourage an individual in Gabby’s situation to see her GP and ask for psychodynamic therapy with regards her self worth.
I’d suggest also taking 15-30 mins outside the flat per day in an environment that doesn’t require spending more than £5 and scaling that up slowly to an hour and beyond over time.
After a 9 months to a year of both of those she might find herself in more of a place to get back to singing lessons and friendships.