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Humanities

She hits me

Alison Marion Snodgrass and Hong Liang Tey
CMAJ June 11, 2013 185 (9) 801; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.130165
Alison Marion Snodgrass
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore
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Hong Liang Tey
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She was 14 years old, and very angry.

She had come to see me for a suspected eating disorder. She was not interested in any therapeutic alliance. Her crossed arms and schoolbag planted firmly on her lap made her displeasure clear.

Her mother was quiet, pleasant and polite. She tried to make up for her daughter’s reticence. I spoke to her alone behind closed doors.

“She hits me.” She began to cry. The mother, not the daughter.

Hers was a heart-wrenching story of domestic violence. Of divorce and all its painful aftermath. Now the daughter was following in her father’s footsteps.

Figure1
Image courtesy of © 2013 Thinkstock

I listened, and consoled. I offered several suggestions and avenues for help. But mainly I just listened.

“Thank you so much.” Some of the tension had left her face. Now I can go on.

The rest of the consult was methodical, aimed at excluding organic causes of vomiting. For the first time in a long while, I left the clinic feeling that I had genuinely helped someone.

Footnotes

  • The authors confirm that all the characters in this work are fictitious.

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Canadian Medical Association Journal: 185 (9)
CMAJ
Vol. 185, Issue 9
11 Jun 2013
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She hits me
Alison Marion Snodgrass, Hong Liang Tey
CMAJ Jun 2013, 185 (9) 801; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.130165

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She hits me
Alison Marion Snodgrass, Hong Liang Tey
CMAJ Jun 2013, 185 (9) 801; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.130165
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