LEE Kathryn IndivAssignment

Yvonne Fang came from an average family and was studying in one of the top independent girls’ schools in Singapore. She seemed like an average 16-year-old girl going through normal teenage girl problems, or so everyone thought. This essay describes the experiences and problems faced by Yvonne in her final year of secondary school. To understand Yvonne’s case better, theoretical background and research will be applied to explain her experiences and problems. Finally, some strategies and solutions will be proposed as resolutions to the issues presented.

Background – Yvonne’s Story
Yvonne’s parents migrated from Taiwan to Singapore and raised their four children in Singapore. Her brother and two sisters were 12, 10 and 7 years older than her respectively. Her father, Mr. Fang, was a businessman and travelled for long periods of time due to work. When he was in Singapore, he did not meddle in the affairs of his children, leaving his wife to take care of all their needs. As the youngest of four children and also because of the age gap between Yvonne and her older siblings, she was given extra care and attention by her mother. She also turned out to be the brightest, making it into top primary and secondary schools in Singapore. Compared to Yvonne, her older siblings were a letdown to Mrs. Fang, as they did poorly in school. Faced with problems from her other children, Mrs. Fang placed extremely high hopes on Yvonne, dictating most of Yvonne’s life and making most of the decisions.

In Sec 4, Yvonne started losing weight drastically. Despite the drastic weight loss, Mrs. Fang refused to admit that there was anything wrong with her daughter. Finally, Yvonne was so thin that Mrs. Fang had to bring her to a doctor for fear that her life was in jeopardy. She was admitted into the hospital and diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Only during the numerous counseling sessions did Yvonne’s problems surface.
Yvonne admitted that she face problems in school. First, although Yvonne

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