Sophia Murdoch, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Name: Sophia Murdoch

Age: 18

Disorder: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Description of disorder: A major depressive disorder is is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Major depression significantly affects a person's family and personal relationships, as well as school and work life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health. A person having a major depressive disorder usually exhibits a very low mood, thoughts and feelings of worthlessness, constant fatigue, headaches, insomnia, and a loss of appetite.

Has been at LPH for: 3 months

Medicine: Zoloft, in the talks of Electroconvulsive therapy

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Background: Sophia is the middle child to Gabrielle and Evan Murdoch, older sibling to Anastasia and younger to Robert. Growing up, Sophia was a normal child, who engaged in normal things, and acted as other normal children would. Only during her second year of high school did her parents begin to notice changes in Sophia's behavior. She became extremely withdrawn, visibly suffering, and lost weight due to her refusal to eat. Chalking it up to just a teenage phase, Gabrielle and Evan ignored Sophia's antics. It was when graduation was approaching that Mr. and Mrs. Murdoch began to realize just how severe Sophia's problems were. According to her principal, Sophia sometimes wouldn't show up for several weeks in a row and, when she did, she'd spend her day in the nurse's office. Due to low grades and no effort, Sophia's principal refused to let her graduate. It came as an upsetting shock to her parents, but Sophia really couldn't have cared less. She didn't seem to care about anything. At a loss for what to do, the Murdoch's got in touch with a local psychiatric hospital, namely LPH, and Sophia has been there ever since.

What you get to decide: Sophia's overall personality (keep her background in mind), how she's responding to her medicine, and what caused her MDD to kick in (if anything at all-- it could just be biological)

Played by: Selena Gomez