Example #1:
Read the following description and answer the questions: (1)
I had everything a girl could ever want, the perfect life. I had just moved out of home in with my
boyfriend who was the perfect man. He bought me flowers every week and supported me in everything
I did. I was studying at University, had a wonderful family and went out with my friends every other
night. But I was broken inside. I felt like it all meant nothing and that the pain was going to eat me up.
It wasn’t that I wanted to be dead, but more that I didn’t want to continue living. It was such a
complicated feeling that followed me everywhere I went, hanging over every move I made. So I started
pulling away from my friends, family and boyfriend. I couldn’t go out anymore because I simply didn’t
see the point.
Eventually, I stopped leaving the house at all. One night my boyfriend went out to work and I couldn’t
deal with the loneliness anymore, so I pulled out a bottle of wine and drank the whole lot. Then I hurt
myself. He found me on the floor. It was such a simple action on his behalf and I don’t think he will
ever know how much it meant. He pulls me from the floor into him arms and cried. He cried because
he felt my pain just as much as I did, I just hadn’t realised that he could see it. I thought I was doing
such a great job of holding it all together, of hiding my pain, but really he was sharing it with me.
I would love to say everything was easy from that point on, but I would be lying. It hasn’t been easy
but it’s been worth it. I realised I had people around me. I realised there will one day be light again. I
realised that I was loved and supported, that I wasn’t alone. I learnt the hard way that even the most
beautiful rose has its thorn, and that it is OK to have problems. I got the help I needed and I have never
looked back since.
Every day is still hard and some days I still feel alone, but I now know that help is there when I need it
and that there is always another way out.
(1) Adapted from https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
What do you think this person suffers from? What are her symptoms? What would you recommend to
her? What kind of therapy / medication would you suggest? Justify your answers as precisely as
possible in a 500-word text.
Example #2:
Read the following testimony and answer the questions:[1]
I am woman in my mid 40s who has previously suffered from severe anxiety and depression. More
recently I had been relatively well but feel myself relapsing due to what is happening at work. I come
home most nights emotionally drained and sometimes in tears. I am also having trouble sleeping.
I work for a large organisation that has a terrible culture and where I have seen people been treated
poorly. There has been a recent restructure and there have been changes and I now find myself in a
small team of 3 plus one other person who works closely with our area and who is considered as
unofficially the fourth member of the team. That fourth member is the ring leader of what is
happening.
These team members have begun leaving me out both in terms of going for coffee and lunch and they
are communicating electronically amongst themselves. It makes me feel uncomfortable as I often
wonder if it is about me. Also, they do not include me in the open banter (= friendly exchange) nor
work related discussion in our open plan. As I am being ignored and deliberately left out I have tried
engaging in conversation and have received monosyllabic responses. So I summed up the courage and
I asked the question whether there was something wrong or whether I have done something to offend
inadvertently and was brushed off with its just work and being busy, which is not the case.
I am reluctant to raise it with my manager as I don't think she is likely to do anything and she is also
located interstate. Therefore she is not around to see what is happening. I wonder whether this
exclusion is a form of bullying or whether I am being overly sensitive.
This situation is taking its toll (= having an adverse effect) on me mentally and I feel myself slipping
back into mental illness.
I'm looking for any advice or coping strategies....
As an occupational psychologist, what would you tell this person? How would you help her? What
strategies could the company implement to solve the problem and better support its employees? Justify
your answers as precisely as possible in a 500-word text.
[1] Adapted from https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/relationship-and-
family-issues/being-isolated-at-work#qltm3HHzvGGEbv8AAOnT_A
