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Implications of stigma to sufferers of mental health
Implications of stigma to sufferers of mental health
Mental health stigma introduction
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Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 film based on Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 autobiography of the same name. The movie is an account of Kaysen’s 18-month residency, in the 1960s, at a mental health facility for women. Director James Mangold chronicles the experience of Kaysen’s stint at Claymoore, a women’s psychiatric institution, as well as the lives of other patients with whom Kaysen interacted while there. The story begins with 18 year old Kaysen overdosing on a bottle of aspirin, which was accompanied by a bottle of vodka. Her parents see it as an attempt at suicide, and has her father’s friend and colleague, Dr. Crumble, help check her into Claymoore to recover and get a “genuine rest”, despite Kaysen saying that she had had a headache and that was the reason for taking the aspirins.
There are a number of different psychological abnormalities depicted in the characters of the
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Mental illness is a condition that affects a person’s way of thinking, behaving, feeling, or mood. The effect is often in a negative way, prohibiting positive interactions and relations with other people; mental illness can even prohibit normal functioning in society. The onset of a mental disorder is normally not due to a single event. It is generally brought on by a culmination of factors in one’s life, whether it is a stressful school, work, personal situation, or a combination thereof, that may not be going as smoothly as one planned or wished. It can also be brought on due to a person’s environment (poor, abusive, crime-ridden), lifestyle (drugs or alcohol), or a predisposition to the illness - it’s in the person’s genetic make-up. There is a stigma in society associated with mental health problems that somehow needs to be overcome. Once it is overcome, it will be easier to heal the patients because people would be more willing to admit that they have a problem and have it
The 1999 film girl Interrupted directed by James Mangold staring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, is an adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s biography, about her experiences at a psychiatric hospital after being diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder in the 1960’s. The film follows the story of a teenage girl named Susanna who is admitted to Claymore hospital after attempting to commit suicide by overdosing on a mixture of aspirin and vodka. The film makes it very clear to the viewer, in more than one scene, that Susanna often questions her diagnosis, in the film’s opening monologue Susanna says, “Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you had the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while
The stigma and negative associations that go with mental illness have been around as long as mental illness itself has been recognized. As society has advanced, little changes have been made to the deep-rooted ideas that go along with psychological disorders. It is clearly seen throughout history that people with mental illness are discriminated against, cast out of society, and deemed “damaged”. They are unable to escape the stigma that goes along with their illness, and are often left to defend themselves in a world that is not accepting of differences in people. Society needs to realize what it is doing, and how it is affecting these people who are affected with mental illness. If we continue to not help them, and to foster their illness, it will only get worse.
Living in a mental hospital for almost two years, Susanna Kaysen wonders why she is there and if she belongs there. Without getting any true answers from her doctors, she struggles to accept her disorder and working to get rid of it. The movie, Girl Interrupted is full of psychological principles I’ve learned throughout the year, which play a role in how Susanna grows as a character. Besides the fact that Susanna has a Borderline Personality Disorder, she is a victim of conformity and self-fulfilling prophecies. These principles are what determine if Susanna is sane or not, and if she will be able to come
Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, is a memoir that centers around feelings of fear, comfort, and control. These are evident in the scene where Kaysen is speaking with Jim Watson, who wants to take her away from the institution, the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, and after Susanna gets out, the societal distancing from those associated with disorders. While used differently throughout the memoir, they serve to drive home divisions between those who “slip into a parallel universe” (Susanna Kaysen, 5), and those who do not.
The movie Girl, Interrupted follows the story of fictional Suzanna Kaysen who voluntarily institutionalizes herself to a mental hospital whereby she is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The central focus of this paper will explore the realities and the stereotypes as presented in the movie regarding Borderline Personality Disorder.
To understand what mental illness is you have to know what it means. Mental health is the state of our well-being. Mental health has to do with the mind. According to thefreedictionary.com mental health is “a state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life”. Mental illness are behavioral, psychological, and emotional disorders that effect the mind. Mental illness is not something that should be avoided. There many different types of mental illnesses. There are also mental healthcare services that can help people with their mental illnesses.
Girl Interrupted is a 1999 film in which Susanna, a high school senior on the verge of graduating with her class in 1967, is rushed to the Emergency Room because she consumed a whole bottle of Aspirin, followed by a bottle of Vodka. After being treated, Susanna is seen by a friend of her fathers, who is a Psychiatrist who believes that her actions were an attempt at suicide. Susanna, of course denies this, instead stating that she was making an effort to rid herself of a headache. The Psychiatrist recommends that she stay at a mental hospital named Claymore for a rest. While there, Susanna meets a number of individuals with a diverse array of disorders. One individual in particular, Lisa essentially runs the group of girls because they either fear or confide in her. As we later find out, Lisa actually displays the symptoms of the borderline personality disorder, the disorder that Susanna is believed to have (Mangold).
Bridging Two Worlds in Girl Interrupted Susanna Kaysen's memoir, Girl Interrupted, describes Kaysen's struggle to transcend across the boundary that separates her from two parallel universes: the worlds of sanity and insanity, security and vulnerability. In this memoir, Kaysen details her existence as a psychiatric patient diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in a mental institution where time seems circular alongside a parallel universe where time is normally linear. The hospital itself becomes a paradoxical representation of both strict confinement and ultimate personal freedom. Through Kaysen's short, blunt phrase-like sentences, she forcefully impresses the shocking conditions she endured on the memory of her readers. Writing in a subtle, almost Hemingway-stark style, she merely suggests the actual reality of her situation in her objective observations of her experiences, leaving her readers in a disturbing position of being suspended between the world that Kaysen paints and the factual reality.
The book girl interrupted by Susanna Kaysen is a memoir of her time in the mentors back in the 1970s. During this time Susanna discusses every new thing she's learned, like the differences between this world, the one in a mental facility, in the world she is still considered normal. The most important thing Susanna learned was that only you can truly ever heal yourself.
Why is there a cloud of judgment and misunderstanding still surrounding the subject? People with a mental disorder or with a history of mental health issues are continually ostracized by society. This results in it being more difficult than it already is for the mentally ill to admit their symptoms to others and to seek treatment. To towards understanding mental illness is to finally lift the stigma, and to finally let sufferers feel safe and accepted within today’s society. There are many ways in which the mentally ill are degraded and shamed.
Girl, Interrupted, an autobiography, follows Sussanna Kaysen an eighteen year old girl who finds herself being escorted to a taxi and being sent to McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Massachusetts. Only after a brief twenty minute interview with a psychiatrist she had just met regarding her failing grades, depression, suicidal attempts as well as her inappropriate relationship with her high school english teacher, she was convinced that she is in need of “rest” and agrees to voluntarily commit herself. Kaysen believes only a few short weeks would be sufficient however soon two years pass. Her first hand account of her stay at the hospital is chaotic and non-chronological which is consistent with her diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. During her stay at McLean, Kaysen grows fond of many of the young patients on her wing. She particularly finds Lisa, a sociopath, entertaining and clever for her various escape attempts and dramatic arguments with the staff. Polly on the other hand burns her own face and body and finally Georgina is Kaysen's roommate at the ward. Daisy is a new patient on the ward and is known in the facility for her rather odd obsession with roasted chicken and laxatives. Daisy is one of the first patients to leave the ward however commits suicide soon after.
Susanna’s disorder can be analyzed from all psychological perspectives. The psychodynamic perspective is a school of thought that focuses on how helping behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts. Susanna’s conflict from years ago with her family will continue to affect her behavior until it is resolved. The social cultural point of view is a school of thought that focuses on how thinking or behavior changes in different situations or as a result of cultural influences. Behavior seen in this disorder has been connected with adolescents and young adults with identity problems whether it be social pressures, anxiety provoking choices, or conflicts about sexual identity. Susanna’s behavior drastically changed when she was around Lisa.
In the memoir “Girl Interrupted” by Susanna Kaysen, portrays a vivid and dark life of her own experience. From being just a typical 18 year old teenager, she always wanted to resemble a worthy person. Kaysen had a vast troublesome imagination, that has taunt and abuse her internally. Kaysen is an 18 year old girl who is in conflict with her borderline personality disorder, self-image, and insecurities. Kaysen explains through black and white pages about her struggle as a patient diagnose with borderline personality disorder. Entering this psychiatric with borderline personality, she meets a sociopath, a methamphetamine addict, and a depressive roomate that contributes to her experience at the psychiatric. Through out her memoir, she focuses on the treatment she is given, her disorder, and the past events that impacted her.
Abnormal psychology may be somewhat rare to catch a glimpse of in public vicinity. However, in motion pictures, numerous upon numerous forms and subtype examples of abnormal psychological disorders are perceived. As for my film of choice I have selected Girl Interrupted. The 1999 picture with lead actress Winona Ryder who plays the role of Susanna Kaysen, a soon to be patient at an exclusive mental hospital with costar Angelina Jolie, who takes on the role of a maddened, wound up sociopath. Encased within the film, Susanna Kaysen displays the signs and symptoms of a woman with borderline personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder abbreviated to BPD, is an illness regarding mental health that spawns a great deal of emotional unsteadiness and unpredictability and has the capability to trail off into other stressing mental and behavioral difficulties.
People with a mental illness are often feared and rejected by society. This occurs because of the stigma of mental illness. The stigma of mental illness causes the perception of individuals with mental illnesses to be viewed as being dangerous and insane. They are viewed and treated in a negative way. They are almost seen as being less of a human. The stigma affects the individual with a mental illness in such a cruel way. The individual cannot even seek help without the fear of being stigmatized by their loved ones or the general public. The stigma even leads to some individuals developing self-stigma. This means having a negative perception of one’s self, such as viewing one’s self as being dangerous. The worst part is that the effects of