Meredith Grey is a 29-year-old Caucasian female surgeon who came to counseling due to the problems she was having in her social and professional life. Meredith Grey is the daughter of a famous heart surgeon named Ellis Grey. While Meredith was young, her mother had an affair with the now-chief of SGH, Richard Weber. The affair resulted in Ellis's failed marriage to Meredith's dad, which lead to his moving out and severing contact with Meredith and her mother.

While her mother may have been a talented surgeon, she was very clearly not a talented mother. She continually voiced her disappointment in Meredith and very rarely showed her affection. Unsurprisingly, Meredith has developed trust issues and she doesn't open up to others easily.

Meredith's depression is triggered when Ellis, who has now developed early-onset Alzheimer's, suddenly becomes lucid again. This lasts for just one day, but during the span of this day, Ellis gives Meredith a lecture about how disappointed she is that she turned out to be simply "ordinary".

Once while taking a bath, Meredith stares into space. After a while, she lets herself sink into the bathtub, and she would have likely drowned had her boyfriend not pulled her out of the water. Later, Meredith falls into the ocean after being knocked backward by a patient at a trauma scene. She describes her thought process: "I was swimming. I was fighting. And then I thought just for a second I thought... what's the point? And I let go. I stopped fighting" (Rhimes, 2008).Meredith simply gives up on life. This clearly shows Meredith's suicidal ideation and overall disregard for life.

Additionally, Meredith watches her mother get rejected by Richard Weber, who refuses to leave his wife for her, ultimately abandoning her mother. Watching her mother get abandoned by her lover, combined with the abandonment she herself had endured from her father, left Meredith with the association that men were not to be trusted, and allowing yourself to be vulnerable through love and trust in them would only result in punishment such as abandonment and ultimately heartache.

Although Meredith usually relies on Christina to talk through her issues, she generally remains closed off and often sees no point in discussing many of her issues with her friends. This exemplifies Meredith's helpless feelings, in which she feels as if there is nothing, she can do to fix her current state of despair. After her mother lives her lucid day, Meredith is crushed and left not devastated, but simply numb.

Meredith often lacks energy and catches herself staring into space and displaying little to no emotional expression, acting generally fatigued and lethargic. She approaches life in a going-through-the-motions kind of way, lacking drive and initiative. Her previous ambition and enthused outlook on medicine also diminish. After her mother dies, Meredith experiences a lot of guilt; blaming herself for her mother's death and even failing her intern exam by spending the whole time staring into space. Within her interactions, she acts irritable, agitated, and extremely pessimistic. She lashes out at her friends, her colleagues, and even her boyfriend.

Meredith is diagnosed with MDD.

Using CBT make a treatment plan with goals and interventions

1. Early-Phase Client Goal: manage crisis; reduce distressing symptoms

personal/relational dynamic to reduce symptoms, Measures and 2 Interventions

2. Working-Phase Client Goals: Target individual and relational dynamics using theoretical concepts

personal/relational dynamic to reduce symptoms, Measures and 3 Interventions

3. Closing-Phase Client Goals: long term goals or goal set by theory's definition of health

personal/relational dynamic to reduce symptoms, Measures and 2 Interventions