History (including details of time and circumstances of onset, and the evolution of complaint) – Ben described his childhood was a nightmare to him. His mother would tie him to a chair and hit him with hangers. He did not want to go to school because his teacher and classmates would ask him about the bruises on his body. He would steal money from his father and gambled it away. He said gambling is like the only escape of reality and feeling high when he wins. He grew up having a lot of friends, but most of them had a bad influence on him. They introduced him to smoke and alcohol. Ben is the second oldest in a family of seven. He has one older sister Jacey and three younger brothers John, Mike, and Andy. Jacey and he are not talking anymore because she refused to lend him money for gambling. He has disturbed Jacey’s family by calling their phone number every 3 am and put glue in their door’s key hole. Jacey had to move to a new place and change their phone number to avoid him. John and Mike are not close to Ben because they immigrated to another country long time ago. Andy is the only family member that still has connection to Ben because he lends money to Ben. When Ben told his family about his medical …show more content…
After his divorce, he had a lot of suicidal thoughts and said things such as “I am better off dead” and “I won’t be around much longer to bother you”. He had trouble falling asleep and would stay awake in bed for hours. When he did not sleep for days, he would drink, dance around the house, and talk to himself continuously. He has done a lot of risky behaviors, like driving 100 mph when the speed limit is 35 mph, mixing alcohol with painkillers, and spend loads of money on something useless. He was embarrassed by what he did, but couldn’t control himself doing it. Ben addressed these issues to his social worker and he suggested to seek help from health