Case 4

Client: Mrs. Lonely Hart

Age: 42

Recently a genetics team interviewed Mrs. Hart, Mr. Hart and their two children. The following is a narrative of what the Harts shared with the team.

Mrs. Hart knows that she has a problem. She is not sure, however, whose problem it really is. She is the mother of two teens, Brian and Elliot. Elliot is eighteen years old and Brian is sixteen years old. They are driving her crazy. Lately she yells non-stop at her kids. Lately whenever she thinks about her family she gets depressed. They criticize her too much.

On the other hand her sons feel that she is the problem. Brian stated during the session that his mother falsely accused him of stealing her car. But as it turned out, she has just forgotten where she had parked the car. Elliot also stated that his mom has become super clumsy lately. For example, two days ago she dropped three cups of coffee on the beige living room rug. This all happened on the same day. Mrs. Hart does not remember doing this. Mr. Hart also stated that Mrs. Hart has been extremely moody lately. Sometimes she cries for no apparent reason. When questioned about it, she can’t explain why she’s crying. Her husband is deeply concerned about her emotional state.

Lately whenever, Mrs. Hart has been experiencing the twitching. Her fingers and hands have begun twitching uncontrollably. She can not control it.

Although Mrs. Hart wanted to blame her kids for her alarming problems, she finally conceded that her memory loss and involuntary movements might have been passed down to her from her mother. Last year Mrs. Hart’s mother began to experience stiff joints and involuntary head movements. Additionally, Mrs. Hart’s recent visit to her regular doctor produced some disturbing test results. The neurological test indicated that a genetic source might be responsible for some of her motor problems. The neurologist reported that Mrs. Hart might have a faulty gene on chromosome 4. . However, the neurologist encouraged Mrs. Hart and her family to visit a genetic counselor to determine the diagnosis and prognosis for her symptoms.