Alice Oliver, Substance-related Disorder/Suicidal

Name: Alice Oliver

Age: 23

Disorder: Substance-related disorder (dysthymia)/Suicidal

Description of disorder: A substance-related disorder is a condition associated with substance abuse, often involving maladaptive behaviors over a long period of time. In order to be diagnosed with substance dependence, an individual must display at least three of the following over a 12 month period: development of tolerance to the substance, declined life functioning, withdrawal symptoms, persistent desire/unsuccessful attempts to stop using the substance, ingestion of larger amounts of the substance, and persistant use of the substance. Over 50% of individuals with substance abuse issues have been found to have another psychiatric disorder. Substance-induced disorders include medical conditions that can be directly attributed to the use of the substance, such as intoxication, withdrawal, substance-induced delirium, and substance-induced psychosis. Dysthymia is a mood disorder consisting of chronic depression, with less severe but longer lasting symptoms than a major depressive disorder. Symptoms for dysthymia are low drive, low self-esteem, and a low capacity for pleasure in every day life.

Has been at LPH for: 5 days

Medicine: Zoloft (antidepressant), Mirtazapine (antidepressant), undergoing detox

---

Background: Everything was going perfectly for Alice Oliver. She had just graduated college with a degree in Special Education, she had bought her first home and her first dog, and she was newly engaged to an American History teacher, Alex. Right out of school, she'd gotten a job at a local high school in Maryland, and she was ecstatic. Not only because work had come to her so soon, but because her soon-to-be husband was a teacher at said school, which meant they'd be able to spend even more time together, in a professional setting or not. For the first three weeks on the job, Alice was having the time of her life. Her and Alex would meet every day for breakfast and lunch in the commons, then go home and order delivery or, if she was up to it, Alice would make a nice, home cooked meal. Things were shaping up very nicely. That is, of course, until the start of the fall semester. Everything that day had seemed fine and normal. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary would have ever been expected. Anticipated or not, the shooting still happened. After sixth period, as students were hurrying from one class to another, a man dressed in black stalked into the commons. The second Alice saw him, she knew something was horribly wrong. Before she had a second to think of what to do, he'd pulled out a gun and began to fire it, shooting anything or anyone in range. Alice hid in the janitor's closet underneath the staircase until the sounds of gunfire were gone and was instead replaced by police storming into the building. Alice had made it, but Alex wasn't so lucky. From then on, Alice became extremely withdrawn. She stopped calling family members, quit her job, and had to put her dog up for adoption-- the only thing she'd had money to buy was the alcohol that kept her alive. She one day decided that alchohol wasn't even enough to keep her around. Alice was planning on jumping out the window of her ten-story apartment building, but was thankfully caught by her sister who'd come to check up on her. After a heated debate, Alice finally agreed to check herself into LPH.

What you get to decide: Alice's overall personality (keep her background in mind), how she's reacting to the medicine, current thoughts on her suicidal tendancies

Played by: Amber Heard