Lily Feinberg Ms. Hannah Ap English Lit. 22 May 2024 Girl, Interrupted The author behind the award-winning novel “Girl, Interrupted,” Susanna Kaysen, used her personal history with mental illness to write an extremely immersive fictional book that follows the events after the main character’s failed suicide attempt. Kaysen was raised in a privileged household where her mother, Annette Kaysen, was heir to renowned architects, and her father, Carl Kaysen, was a well-known MIT professor. Kaysen, at the time of publishing, was 45 years old, living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though her childhood was privileged, it also came with the hurdle of struggles with mental health (Borderline Personality Disorder), which sprouted at a young age and came …show more content…
Kaysen used the trauma from her treatment as a means of exposing the abuse many patients of these facilities face and the disgraceful, dehumanizing treatment’s impact on her healing. Borderline Personality Disorder is known to be one of the most difficult mental illnesses to live with due to its countless list of debilitating symptoms, such as extreme and unstable emotions, impulsive behaviors that can lead to self-harm or suicidal thoughts and actions, feelings of disconnect from the surrounding world leading to feelings of emptiness and lastly unstable or distorted self-image which can lead to feelings of worthlessness. There are countless treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder, the most common being dialectical behavior therapy where skills for emotional regulation and distress tolerance are taught, and is often paired with mood-stabilizing medications. “Girl, Interrupted” is often referred to as a memoir due to Kaysen’s use of her personal experience in a psychiatric hospital to create the protagonist and supporting characters. When writing, Kaysen chose to use a first-person point of view to allow the reader to become fully immersed in the novel as a means of
Diana Miller, 25 was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder after being rushed to the hospital following another suicide attempt . Her symptoms and background are outlined in her vignette and will be examined in detail throughout the paper. The purpose of this essay will be to explore the possible additional diagnoses for Diana’s behaviour as well as look deeper into the feasible explanations of how and why her behaviour turned abnormal. Therefore through analyzing the diagnostic features, influence of culture, gender, and environment, in addition to outlining paradigm explanations and possible treatment methods, one can better understand Diana Miller’s diagnoses.
In the memoir Girl, Interrupted a troubled teen has admitted herself into a mental health institution after a half-hearted suicide attempt and later questions why she was put there in the first place. The memoir has no linear plot line, so the reader follows a series of scattered short stories as told by Kaysen concerning her stay at McLean Hospital. The chapters in the memoir give the reader bits of knowledge an...
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 movie, “Girl Interrupted,”is about a teenage girl named Susanna Kaysen who has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. People with Borderline Personality Disorder “are often emotionally unstable, impulsive, unpredictable, irritable, and anxious. They also are prone to boredom. Their behavior is similar to that of individuals with schizotypal personality disorder but they are not as consistently withdrawn and bizarre” (Santrock, 2003). In “Girl Interrupted” Susanna Kaysen the main character, goes through many episodes that give a picture of the disorder she’s suffering from. The first such incident occurs when the psychiatrist is talks to Susanna about her failed suicide attempt. During the conversation, she is seen as confused and irritated by his presence. While the psychiatrist questions her, her mind seems to be somewhere else because she is having flash backs of her past, maybe a sign of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). Susanna seems to be uncertain about things, she claims that she does not know what she feels. She was taken to the hospital after she tried to commit suicide, she took a bottle of aspirin. Her reason for taking the full bottle of aspirin was major headache, which was also alarming to the psychiatrist.
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
In the movie, "Girl, Interrupted.", Susanna Kaysen is an 18-year-old, recent high school graduate who deals with depression. When Susanna has a nervous breakdown and almost overdoses mixing aspirin and alcohol she is placed in the psychiatric hospital, Claymoore. She is believed to had tried to commit suicide, even though she wholeheartedly denies it, no one believes her because of her lack of motivation and obvious depression. Throughout the movie, Susanna begins to feel accepted in the hospital and becomes friends with the other women in the ward. She is faced with the question of whether or not she is really crazy?
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.
People suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder have an intense fear of abandonment and will go to drastic measures to avoid real or perceived abandonment. They may engage in suicidal or self-mutilating behaviours, and impulsive behaviour. Alex Forrest has an impromptu affair with a married man without using any contraceptives or (protection), which is risky and impulsive behaviour. In a later part of the film, Ms. Forrest cuts her own leg with a knife when she confronts Mrs. Gallagher, and when Mr. Gallagher tries to break off the relationship, she cuts her wrists in an attempt to get him to stay with her (Jaffe & Lansing, 1987). This is after she violently lashes out at him the first time he tries to leave. Inappropriate, intense anger and difficulty controlling that anger is another symptom of Borderline Personality Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). People with Borderline Personality Disorder also have a tendency to view others as “all-good” or “all-bad” (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2013). They may idealise a person one minute and despise them the next. An example of this “splitting” is the tape Alex leaves for Mr. Gallagher. Her words to him at the beginning of the recording make it seem like she cares deeply for him. However, as the tape continues to play, her words become harsh and antagonistic (Jaffe & Lansing,
The movie “Girl, Interrupted” is about a young woman named Susanna who attempts suicide and consequently checks in to a mental hospital called Claymore. When she gets there she’s diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. There she meets many people but mainly focuses on Lisa, a proud sociopath, and Daisy, an implied incest victim who seems to have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Susanna leaves Claymore with Lisa to go see Daisy and after Daisy’s suicide she returns to Claymore where she is later released.
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
On Saturday July 29th, 2017, I was able to catch one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while, Girls Trip. I was able to view the movie with four of three of friends of mines at the Regal Moorestown Mall Stadium 12 & RPX, located in Moorestown, New Jersey. My experience started with the aromas of popcorn. I am one of those type who has to have popcorn with lots of butter while enjoying a movie. After I purchased my popcorn and bottled water I was ready to enjoy this night with my friends. However, I wasn’t the one who purchased the tickets so the seats choices where horrible. They were floor level, on the very far right and third row. Still trying to make the best out of it I reclined my see as far back as possible so my neck would bother me the during the movie. The theater was packed, mostly with women.
Girl Interrupted Review Cherie Pryor Denver College of Nursing 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.
The “Bad Girls Club” display groups of women who are obsess with drinking and violent behavior to handle their situations, shining the light on negative stereotypes, defining a “bad girls” and the influencing young girls in today’s society. The way these girls act on TV is the way the media portray women as vulnerable and in need of male attention. By depicting women solely as physical objects, we rarely see them as powerful. Women have often seen each other as competition in many realms of their lives and so have become adept at quickly sizing up their female competition as to what makes a women’s woman (Kramer 210).The show 's has a foundation of seven women with personal, social and psychological problems, who consider their self to be
Margaret Thatcher's eulogy was carefully written with thoughts of the American people still in mourning Reagan in mind. Margaret Thatcher establishes her appeal to emotion by conveying herself as a warm and personable friend of Reagan's. Thatcher proves her credibility by stating she was not only a partner, but a friend of Reagan's and proves she knew him well. Thatcher appeals to the intellect with accounts of Reagan's achievements throughout his life as well as a general comprehension of the time period. Thatcher is effective in appealing to the audiences feelings, logic, and trust through her engaging and heartfelt eulogy.
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.