Susanna Kaysen’s best-selling memoir, Girl, Interrupted, written in 1993, recounts the author’s personal experiences during her stay at an American psychiatric institution in the late 1960s. She portrays her thoughts, emotions, and environments through the lens of an 18-year-old who was suddenly diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Throughout the novel, the author often refers to society’s restrictive categorisation of the ‘sane’ and ‘insane’, defining ‘insanity’ as the label utilised to classify the mentally ill. Despite writing her memoir more than 20 years after her release from the hospital, the author attempts to implicitly highlight the obscure boundary between societal perceptions of ‘sanity’and ‘insanity,’condemning the basis of society’s perception of the mentally ill. How does Susanna Kaysen censure the distinction American society made between …show more content…
This essay will explore the different approaches the author took in criticising the public’s views of herself to the societal notions present in the late 60s and early 70s. Scientific and academic research papers and books will be used as supporting evidence. To begin with, Susanna Kaysen casts doubt on the validity and rationality of her diagnosis. Throughout the majority of her memoir, the author often stumbles upon the struggle of understanding her diagnosis, as she did not receive an explanation for it at the time. Along with the comparisons between herself and the fellow patients at the hospital, she is led to an enduring state of confusion, as she recognises the prominent presence of her ‘sanity’in contrast to theirs. After having discovered the description for BPD given by the DSM-III-3, which states, “uncertainty about several life issues, such as self-image,
During the 1960’s, America’s solution to the growing population of mentally ill citizens was to relocate these individuals into mental state institutions. While the thought of isolating mentally ill patients from the rest of society in order to focus on their treatment and rehabilitation sounded like a smart idea, the outcome only left patients more traumatized. These mental hospitals and state institutions were largely filled with corrupt, unknowledgeable, and abusive staff members in an unregulated environment. The story of Lucy Winer, a woman who personally endured these horrors during her time at Long Island’s Kings Park State Hospital, explores the terrific legacy of the mental state hospital system. Ultimately, Lucy’s documentary, Kings
Susanna was admitted into Claymoore Hospital and was diagnosed with a borderline personality disorder. I believe that Susanna met the criteria for a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. A person that has been diagnosed with BPD are
Pete Earley, a seasoned investigative reporter for the Washington Post, wrote about criminal justice system for a living. However, it wasn’t until his son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and experienced a manic episode, that he began investigating Americas mental health system. Earley’s book, Crazy, walks us through his investigation of the mental health system and his own personal story of living and overcoming the mental illness his son lives with. Earley talks about how Mike, his son, had his first psychotic break when he was a senior in college. On a particularly bad night, Mike’s older brother called Earley saying that Mike was getting bad again, and that Earley should come see him. When Earley arrived in
Susanna’s actions prove that she is continually working towards recovering. Jim Watson visits Susanna, asking her to run away with him, however, Susanna denies his proposal and stays at the institution: “For ten seconds I imagined this other life...the whole thing...was hazy. The vinyl chairs, the security screens, the buzzing of the nursing-station door: Those things were clear. ‘I’m here now, Jim,’ I said. ‘I think I’ve got to stay here’” (Kaysen 27). Susanna wants to stay at McLean until she is ready to leave; her choice supports what Buddha said, “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting” (Buddha). Susanna finds reassurance from McClean as she undergoes her journey. Susanna sees the young nurses at the ward who remind her of the life she could be living: “They shared apartments and had boyfriends and talked about clothes. We wanted to protect them so that they could go on living these lives. They were our proxies” (Kaysen 91). Susanna chooses to take these reminders as a positive motivating force along her journey. However, Susanna is also surrounded by patients who have different, more severe psychoses. These girls do not hinder Susanna’s progression, but instead emphasize her
In the book “The Mad Among Us-A History of the Care of American’s Mentally Ill,” the author Gerald Grob, tells a very detailed accounting of how our mental health system in the United States has struggled to understand and treat the mentally ill population. It covers the many different approaches that leaders in the field of mental health at the time used but reading it was like trying to read a food label. It is regurgitated in a manner that while all of the facts are there, it lacks any sense humanity. While this may be more of a comment on the author or the style of the author, it also is telling of the method in which much of the policy and practice has come to be. It is hard to put together without some sense of a story to support the action.
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.
Clarice Precious Jones, who goes by her middle name, is a 16-year-old African American female who lives in Harlem, New York. Precious is pregnant with her second child, the first of which is a girl who lives with Precious’ grandmother, has Down syndrome and was born four years earlier. Both of Precious’ pregnancies are due to being raped by her biological father, abuse that began at the age of three. Though she does not see her father often, Precious’ mother, Mary, is also physically, emotionally and sexually abusive to her on a daily basis. Mary treats Precious like a slave, beats her often and emotionally tears her down. Furthermore, Mary is scamming the system for welfare benefits, claiming to care for Precious’ first child and telling Precious that school is not important and will not help her in life so to settle and continue collecting the welfare check.
1. This book shows readers how those that are mentally ill think and helps others better understand the “why” of their behaviors.
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.
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 Quiet Room, Lori Schiller and multiple people who knew her put words to the illusive nature of a specific disability of mental health—schizoaffective disorder. It’s no secret that mental illness often carries an intense stigma, more so, perhaps, than many other types of disabilities. This stigma is woven into the pages of this memoir, a reflection of the perception of mental illness in society, which is often fueled by inaccurate and negative representation. The memoir may mostly focus on Schiller’s experience with schizoaffective disorder, but it speaks to the larger narrative of disabilities of mental health as a whole.
The human brain is a vast, unexplainable, and unpredictable organ. This is the way that many modern physicians view the mind. Imagine what physicians three hundred years ago understood about the way their patients thought. The treatment of the mentally ill in the eighteenth century was appalling. The understanding of mental illness was very small, but the animalistic treatment of patients was disgusting. William Hogarth depicts Bethlam, the largest mental illness hospital in Britain, in his 1733 painting The Madhouse1. The public’s view of mental illness was very poor and many people underestimated how mentally ill some patients were. The public and the doctors’ view on insanity was changing constantly, making it difficult to treat those who were hospitalized2. “Madhouses” became a dumping ground for people in society that could not be handled by the criminal justice system. People who refused to work, single mothers, and children who refused to follow orders were being sent to mental illness hospitals3. A lack of understanding was the main reason for the ineptness of the health system to deal with the mentally ill, but the treatment of the patients was cruel and inhumane. The British’s handling of mentally ill patients was in disarray.
Perrucci, Robert. Circle of Madness: On Being Insane and Institutionalized in America. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1974.
Once upon a time, long ago in the mists of time, sprawling brick structures housed countless individuals with mental disturbances. These massive structures were known to the world as mental asylums for the insane. In reality, the majorities of these individuals were not insane, but in contrast were suffering from mild mental problems such as depression or anxiety. These people were looked down upon in society and were labeled as "freaks" or "batty" because of their mental disorder. In the early twentieth century, mental issues were considered taboo. If a family had a sibling or relative who was suffering from a mental disorder, they were swept under a rug; to be taken care of at another time. These days, these immense structures are an object of the past, a bygone era. Many asylums still stand tall as monuments to the world of health care, while many do not stand at all.
People with BPD often have rapid changes of themselves because they have an unstable sense of who they are. They see themselves in a negative view of being bad or do not feel like they exist. With an unstable self- image it can lead to a recurrent change in friendships, values, goals, and gender identity (Flavin,