Girl, Interrupted “Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is… Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me amplified.” The studies of mental health and psychology have improved greatly since the late 1960’s, but some could argue that there are still many disorders we do not understand. This movie envelopes the problems and treatment of patients during this era. Not only in a time of economic and racial disturbance, but the stereotypes and inequality for women were exemplified during this motion picture. In this award-winning film, we meet Suzanna Kaysen, a girl right out of high school with severe depression. We discover that she downed a whole bottle of Aspirin chased by a bottle of Vodka. Suzanna then talks to a …show more content…
Polly had a brief moment of self-hatred and was sent to the padded cell where she is crying hysterically. Suzanna has the idea to sing to her with a guitar from the art room with Lisa. The orderly tries to convince them to go back to their rooms, but Suzanna uses the fact that he likes her to manipulate him and he stay’s with her all night. In the morning, all three of them wake up to Valerie (the head nurse) and Suzanna runs to her room. After Suzanna is written up, the orderly is transferred to the men’s ward, and Lisa has been missing for some time. We soon find out that Lisa was in another ward having shock therapy performed on her. This method is extremely unacceptable for modern psychology, and would not be used …show more content…
We learn in the movie that Suzanna is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. One of the symptoms includes compulsive promiscuity. Tobey was brought in the beginning of the story as one of the men she had sex with. They barely knew each other and not much was discussed between the two characters, but they had a brief conversation about the war. Tobey says how the world is so mismanaged that “If some draft zombie pulls [his] name out of a barrel, [he’s] going to die”; Suzanna asks him when his birthday is, and he replies “December 30th”. While in the hospital, Suzanna had seen his Birthdate called, on the television, to be drafted. In the following week, he show’s up expecting her to leave with him for Canada. Suzanna is reluctant to leave. She believes she is getting better and she is starting to enjoy the company of the other patients. Tobey thinks he can convince Suzanna to leave by minimizing her situation. He tells her that she is not like the others, that she’s not crazy. This is the first time Suzanna openly admits to attempting suicide. This scene shows that women are independent, and don’t need to look to a man for guidance. Suzanna speaks up and chooses to do what’s right for her mental health rather than run and avoid her problems like Tobey seems to be doing. That is what strength is; choosing the right decision even when it is not necessarily the choice you
The viewpoint of mental illness portrays that mental illness is a common mechanism when dealing with stress or drastic changes. Many people are not as exposed with people who have mental disorders. This movie brings in two extremely different people, but they find themselves falling for each other despite their extra baggage. Tiffany has a heavy baggage she is carrying around. She could not accept the fact that Tommy left her suddenly. Although Tiffany’s character seems odd and dysfunctional, this movie portrays Tiffany, as a woman and a person, trying to move on. This film accurately portrays this disorder. There are some Hollywood viewpoints of mental illness, but this movie accurately portrays Tiffany as someone with borderline personality disorder. She shows many signs of borderline personality disorder symptoms. Many viewers can sense that areas in her life are dysfunctional and not
In 1978, Susan Sheehan took an interest in Sylvia Frumkin, a schizophrenic who spent most of her life in and out of mental hospitals. For more than two years, Sheehan followed Sylvia around, observing when Sylvia talked to herself, sitting in on sessions with Sylvia’s doctors, and at times, sleeping in the same bed as Sylvia during her stay at the psychiatric centers. Through Sheehan’s intensive report on Sylvia’s life, readers are able to obtain useful information on what it’s like to live with this disorder, how impairing it can be for them, and the symptoms and causes to look out for; likewise, readers can get an inside look of how some mental hospitals are run and how a misdiagnosis can negatively impact someone’s life.
Most people are likely to relate Hollywood with money. If a person lives in the Hollywood area, people assume she or he is probably rich. If she or he is a Hollywood movie star, the person probably makes a lot of money. Therefore, to follow that line of thought, when Hollywood producers make a movie, they make it just for money. And some filmmakers do seem to make films only for the money the movies will earn. The action movie "Die Hard", the fantasy movie "Star Wars", and the adventure movie "Jurassic Park" are examples of exciting movies that were made just for the money by satisfying the audiences' appetite for escapism.
Madness: A History, a film by the Films Media Group, is the final installment of a five part series, Kill or Cure: A History of Medical Treatment. It presents a history of the medical science community and it’s relationship with those who suffer from mental illness. The program uses original manuscripts, photos, testimonials, and video footage from medical archives, detailing the historical progression of doctors and scientists’ understanding and treatment of mental illness. The film compares and contrasts the techniques utilized today, with the methods of the past. The film offers an often grim and disturbing recounting of the road we’ve taken from madness to illness.
The two texts emphasized in this essay include Elyn R. Saks’ The Center Cannot Hold : My Journey Through Madness and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With A Thousand Faces. “There were many days when I believed I was nothing more than the Lady of Charts - a crazy woman who’d faked her way into a teaching job and would soon be discovered for what she really was and put where she really belonged - in a mental hospital” (Saks 263). Saks entire life was a struggle because of the mental illness she had since a young age, schizophrenia. Most of her younger years were lived being misunderstood by her parents and peers alike. She turned to options like substance abuse and self harm to cope with her deteriorating situation in life. There came a point where she realized that she was better than her illness and was able to overcome it with the help and guidance of a few mentors. Now, Saks is a very successful assistant dean, as well as a professor of law, psychology, psychiatry, and behavioral sciences at the University of Southern California Gould Law School. Saks also went on to receive the award for MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and write her book. Joseph Campbell was also very successful in the same way because he wrote a book that is very complex and still relevant in this day and age. Campbell made the mold and Saks’ life fits it
In this paper the reader will be able to find a variety of different areas covered. A detailed summary of the movie 28 days directed by Betty Thomas in 2000 will start the paper. The diagnostic criteria of a psychiatric disease will be included along with rationales why the main character fits the diagnosis of disease. Included is the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of coping mechanisms. Pharmacological with classification and non-pharmacological treatments will be included in addition to discussion of ethical and legal issues. This paper will include whether it would be an acceptable fit for patients or families with the same diagnosis. Lastly, will be an overall conclusion of the information provided in the paper.
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid demonstrate how a mother cautions her daughter, in becoming a responsible woman in her society. Although the daughter hasn’t gotten into adolescence yet, the mother fears that her daughter’s current behavior, if continued, will tip to a life of promiscuity. The mother believes that a woman’s status or propriety determines the quality of her life in the community. Hence, gender roles, must be carefully guarded to maintain a respectable front. Her advice centers on how to uphold responsibility. The mother cautions her daughter endlessly; emphasising on how much she wants her to realize her role in the society by acting like woman in order to be respected by the community and the world at large. Thus, Jamaica Kincaid’s
...f the bad that is going on in her real life, so she would have a happy place to live. With the collapse of her happy place her defense was gone and she had no protection from her insanity anymore. This caused all of her blocked out thoughts to swarm her mind and turn her completely insane. When the doctor found her, he tried to go in and help her. When the doctor finally got in he fainted because he had made so many positive changes with her and was utterly distressed when he found out that it was all for naught. This woman had made a safety net within her mind so that she would not have to deal with the reality of being in an insane asylum, but in the end everything failed and it seems that what she had been protecting herself from finally conquered her. She was then forced to succumb to her breakdown and realize that she was in the insane asylum for the long run.
Written in the 19th century, the short story titled "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Stetson highlights how a mentally disturbed and misunderstood woman's condition degenerates into madness while under the care of her busy but caring husband. The story brings out pertinent issues in the care and treatment of mentally ill female patients during the 19th century. In a bid to comprehend the article thoroughly, the paper analyses the historical background of the short story by examining how isolation affects a person suffering from depression, and the role the wallpaper plays in worsening the condition of the woman in the story. The essay also analyses the treatment procedure of the mentally ill in the 19th century and discusses how
Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced a relatively similar life story to the life of the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. She was prescribed the same “rest cure” as the narrator that subsequently led to a mental breakdown. The prescribed “rest cure” entails minimal human contact, repressed imagination, and female confinement. Comparatively, persistently being told that you are insane especially if you’re not, may drive someone to actually become psychotic.
Most people gather what they know about mental illnesses from television and film. Unfortunately these media portrayals are inaccurate and create stigma. They depict people suffering from mental illnesses as different, dangerous and laughable. Characters are often addicted to drugs or alcohol, are violent, dangerous, or out of control. Horror film characters like Norman Bates in Psycho, Jack Torrance in the Shining, or Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs associate the typical 'psycho- killer' with people who suffer from a mental illness. But dramas and horror films are not the only film genres that create stigma. Comedies like What About Bob and many others not only stigmatize, they also make fun of mental illnesses and the people who suffer from them. This paper will discuss how the film Me, Myself & Irene is an inaccurate, offensive and stigmatizing portrayal of an individual suffering from schizophrenia. It also discusses what can be done to counteract the stigma created by these types of films.
Instead, the film cherry-picks frightening or exaggerated elements of a spectrum of disorders, including schizophrenia, delusional disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This makes Laeddis an embodiment of a combination of the most frightening psychological disorders. While there are certain aspects of Laeddis’ psychosis that are accurate in terms of an individual disorder, these elements do not add up to a realistic portrayal of mental illness. This combination of fact and fiction also extends to the film’s treatment of institutionalization, psychological therapy, and the connection between violence and mental illness. The exaggerations and distortions of Shutter Island serve one purpose, they entertain the audience. However, this type of entertainment often comes at the cost of perpetuating the negative stigma and misinformation that surrounds mental illness in modern society. While the film may entertain audiences with its dramatic twists and turns, Shutter Island is a part of a trend of inaccuracies and exaggeration of mental illness in modern
Girl Interrupted is a film about a young woman, Susanna Kaysen, who voluntarily enters a psychiatric facility in Massachusetts. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a portrayal of psychiatric care in the 1960’s. The film is based on the memoirs of Susanna Kaysen and her experiences during an 18 month stay at a mental institution. During her visit, Susanna is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The film depicts psychiatric care, diagnoses, and treatments from a different era.
To most people the movie Mean Girls is simply a silly teen chick flick and is not good for anything but pure entrainment. Even though Mean Girls is slightly dramatized, high school in reality is perfectly portrayed through this movie. Every high school varies but there is always a domain group of students. The socially powerful are the rich and beautiful girls and everyone else are the loyal subjects to their castle. However, there is a twist in Mean Girls, the message is actually positive. Mean Girls is sending a message that women should not criticize one another to feel empowerment, it is unattractive to men to be mindless, and that White Americans have domains over other races. This movie also implies that nothing wrong with being different from what society accepts.