A worried mother contacted our Cardiff Polygraph Examiner to help establish what was wrong with her 17 year old daughter. The subsequent lie detector test identified the problem.
Annabelle’s Case
Anabelle was worried about her daughter Leanne. At 17, Leanne was overly concerned about her appearance. She was a healthy size 12 and attractive. She had long dark hair which went down to her waist and was always well kept. Recently she’d asked her mother to buy her some weight loss medication she’d spotted online but and Anabelle refused. Instead, she told her she was fine how she was but if she wanted to lose some weight, she should go to the gym. It seemed silly at first to Anabelle as Leanne was the ideal weight for her height. But if she wanted to get to a size 10 then she should do it without potions or pills.
Gym membership
Anabelle bought her an annual gym membership. She reasoned that if Leanne was unhappy within herself then maybe her studies would suffer and that was the last thing she wanted for her daughter. She’d decided to take her A levels and hoped to go onto University to study sociology afterwards. Anabelle had high hopes for her and wanted to give her the best start possible. Leanne had jumped at the chance to head off to the gym and started to go 4 times a week.
A shocking discovery
Leanne seemed to drop to a size 10 within a few weeks. Despite the weight loss she announced she was still fat and wanted to become a size 8. The size 8 came and went but still she wanted to lose more. Anabelle couldn’t remember them having a meal together in weeks and she’d hardly seen her daughter. The last meal she could remember had been a Sunday lunch but Leanne had run upstairs quite rapidly after that saying she felt unwell. Her mother had put it down to her early morning gym session and eating so much a few hours later but something just didn’t feel right.
Anabelle decided she needed to look through Leanne’s room. She didn’t like to invade her daughter’s privacy like this but she felt she had little choice. Having searched through the drawers and found nothing she looked under the bed. What she saw was quite shocking. There were chocolate wrappers and crisp packets, not just a few but what seemed like hundreds.
Lie detector test in Cardiff
Leanne came home from the gym a few hours later and Anabelle asked her what the sweet wrappers were for. She made an excuse about needing to bulk up for the gym. Why would she need to bulk up if she was trying to lose weight? Her mother knew something was wrong but didn’t know what and decided to call our Cardiff Polygraph Examiner service for advice. We advised it could be a number of things and after talking her options through, Annabelle decided to book a lie detector test in Cardiff.
Leanne, having been told she shouldn’t have anything to worry about if there was nothing wrong, seemed surprisingly willing to take the test. On the morning of the test, Leanne wouldn’t eat breakfast and muttered something about being nervous.
Cardiff Polygraph Examiner
On meeting our polygraph examiner, Leanne told him in the pre-test interview, that she knew she had a problem. She hadn’t felt able to discuss it with her mother or anyone close to her. Her agreement to take the polygraph examination was so that she could talk to a complete stranger about it whom she might never meet again. She was embarrassed and didn’t know where to turn for help. They lived in a small community and everyone knew each other. She didn’t feel able to see her GP or any of the local counselling services.
Her problem she thought was Bulimia, binge eating and then throwing up as quickly as possible afterwards.
The fully analysed report she and Annabelle received from us has helped Leanne move forward. She has been booked into a private clinic and diagnosed with Bulimia. We wish her every success in overcoming her eating disorder.
If you know someone who clearly has a problem but is reluctant to admit to it, lie detector tests can help. Keep an eye on the blog for more case studies and advice from our polygraph examiners.
