Judi Geller is a 31-year-old woman.  She has a baby face, so she looks like a teenager. She has short ginger hair with freckles in the right places on her face that make her look much younger than what she really is. She works as a salesclerk in a Christmas shop which is not a rewarding job. Her real passion is to be a romantic novel writer; however she does not have enough money to survive the few months that is needed to be independently wealthy and not work while she writes.

Judi is very feminine and attractive, many guys ask her out but she does not seem interested in them. She dresses stylish and wears enough make up to look natural and not like a painted faced chick!

Even though she is an only child and at the moment single she has a large family therefore she is not lonely at all. Her best friend is her aunt who is a lawyer with a stern personality but with a soft spot in her heart for Judi. Judi’s favorite pastime is to go to the little lake close to her house and feed the ducks.  While she is doing this, she people watches and imagine something about them.  For example, the lady with the large handbag and the slow walk that is crossing the street looks like a motherly type and Judi can see her with three children and unfortunately an alcoholic husband.  She uses her imagination constantly; it makes her forget her own troubles.

She rents a flat in Debrecen with Adri her selfish roommate. The flat mate is inconsiderate and has no interest in changing her manner. Adri consumes all the milk from the fridge without replacing it as well as eating the bread, the cereal and the embarrassing times when Judi goes to the bathroom and there is no toilet paper because Adri used it all up and walked away from the responsibility of replacing it. The reason why Judi puts up with Adri is because the price and location of the flat is fantastic and also Adri needs Judi because no one else wants to be her flat mate.

Judi’s aunt always encourages her to quit her job and she would give her money to survive during the time that she needs to write the book, but Judi will not accept this offer.  Judi strongly believes in using her own finances to survive and will not accept any handouts.

Judi is a loner she does not need anyone in her life however she wants to be successful before she considers a romantic relationship.  Judi believes in being fit therefore she practices karate a martial arts sport.  She enjoys cooking and takes food on the weekend to her advanced aged parent that live a few kilometers away.  Her parents are really nurturing and love her very much.

When she is at the Christmas shop her mind wanders and cannot remember what the customer says.  That makes her look stupid, but she is just always fantasizing in her real life.

Judi’s biggest fear is failure in writing a book and if she fails, she will not know what to do with her life.  She is 31 years old with nothing to show as an accomplishment.  She stepped in a vicious circle.

Today being Tuesday, she got up with a stress headache.  She took a quick shower and got dressed and rushed out of the apartment since she was already late.  The weather outside did not help her at all since it was raining heavily and the wind was blowing so hard that the rain was moving horizontally slamming into her face.  It felt like little needles hitting her soft flesh.  She finally got to the store and the store manager gave her the look that you give a wet cat.  The customers coming into the store were cranky because everyone was wet.    This 40 year old balding man found Judy and started to talk to her without even noticing that Judy had a blank stare looking at the rain outside of the store.  He kept talking in a demanding tone and Judy kept staring. Finally, the man asked, “ Young lady are you listening to me?”    Judy woke up from her trance and replied “NO! I mean yes, I mean of course sir!” Confused and wondering what happened to her she spent the rest of the day wondering what happened.

After work Judy went to see her aunt and immediately told her what happened at work today. Her aunt suggested to evaluate her life, she was not exactly very comforting as a matter of fact she felt like she was criticizing Judy.  Disappointed Judy walked home with the idea to start writing her book.  When she started writing on the computer, she immediately got writers block and could even come up with the opening sentence. Judy decided to take a relaxing warm shower to revitalize her.  She steps into the shower and of all days, today, Adri just finished taken a shower washing her hair and all the hot water vanished.  Judy in desperation began banging her head against the shower glass door to the point that her forehead started bleeding. 

Judy realizes that she is out of control and needs medical attention both for her bleeding forehead and for her mind.  After coming out of the emergency room she uses her phone to find the first shrink that is available.  Dr. Horvath page pops up first on the Google search.  She calls and a live operator answered the phone.  That is a good sign, talking to real people instead of machines.  Great!!

The day arrive and Judy rushes to the main street building takes the elevator to the 7th floor and enters the waiting area of Dr. Horvath’s office.  There is no one waiting here, and the soft music is playing and coming out from behind the sofa.  Right away the Dr. office door opens, and Dr. Horvath emerge wearing a black jumpsuit with a gray flannel jacket.  In her left hand was a clipboard and on her right a fancy fountain pen. 

Judy walks into the office and lies down on the sofa.  Dr. Horvath was surprised since very few people actually lie down on the sofa, most people sit on the black leather armchair.

“Judy, I guess you know who I am but just in case I am Dr. Horvath.  How can I be of help?” stated Dr. Horvath.

Judy took a sitting position on the sofa and looked at Dr. Horvath straight into her eyes. 

In a low tone of voice and with a meek voice Judy said - “Nice to meet you Dr. Horvath, my name is Judy Geller and I need your help.  I have not been feeling like myself in the past week and a week ago I found myself banging my head on the shower door and that was the signal that I needed help. 

“ Was this the first time you try to hurt yourself” stated Dr. Horvath

“I never been in this condition before.  I feel lost and confused. I am not sleeping well, and I feel like most of the time I am floating in a low-lying cloud.  I lost my appetite and sometimes I forget if I had actually brushed my teeth of not even if I have taken a shower”

“Judy I am going to ask you a few preliminary questions to get started and please fell free to talk continuously as I take notes ok?” – said Dr. Horvath

Judy nodded her head.

Dr. Horvath asked her all the background procedural questions first and then she dove into the more relevant questions.

“Judy have you ever been molested as a child? Have you taken any hallucinogenic drugs previously? Did you have a happy childhood? Have you ever tried to commit suicide?”   Dr. Horvath asked

None of the answers that Judi gave raised any red flags. 

Judy said - “I was a perfect child Dr. Horvath. I was very obedient, and my parents encouraged me to reach my aspirations. I was and I am going to be a novel writer, but I have not started yet.  I do everything right and I try my best at anything I try.”

“No one is perfect Judy, we try to be but no one achieves this” Dr. Horvath responded

Judy responded with an aggressive and louder tone of voice “I AM perfect!!  I was brought up to be perfect so therefore I AM perfect!”

Dr. Horvath gave her a blank stare and said “ there is no need to convince me Judy if you think you are perfect then you must be”

That infuriated Judy to the points of tears

To be continued -

Definitions 

Freckles Szeplő = the little birthmarks that show up on your face

Stern  Szigorú = cold and non flexible

Consume =  Elfogyaszt  to use up

Hand Outs = receiving a gift or help without any commitment.

Nurturing = Ápolása    To feed with love and compassion

Manner =  Mód      the way she behaves is manner

Wanders = to go away for a walk or for a trip

Accomplishment =  Teljesítés  completed tasks considered a victory

Vicious circle = devilish circle     ördögi kör

Shrink – a slang nbame for a psychiatrist

QUESTIONS

Do you think Judy has a real emotional problem or is she just spoiled?