Literary Analysis Of Girl, Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen

Mental illness is not shameful, but stigma is. The stigma of mental illness is driven by fear and lack of knowledge. The solution to ending this stigma is education to dispel fear and lead to a society which acts with compassion.

Girl, Interrupted provides an in-depth look into Susanna Kaysen’s experience of living with a mental illness and staying in a mental hospital. Twenty-five years after she leaves McLean she learns of her diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and discusses it in her memoir. Kaysen reads about her disorder from the DSM-III-R and views her diagnosis as:

One of the biggest contributors for poor healthcare is the stigma against mental health. This stigma allows healthcare providers to view those with a mental illness as having low relevance, thus creating disinclination towards providing adequate resources and/or care. This negative stance, based on misinformation and prejudice creates those that have a mental illness to lose their self confidence. Because of this loss, people with mental illness decide not to contribute to their health or livelihood. In the past fifty years, many advances have been made in mental healthcare. However, with the attached stigma, many people choose to not seek out treatment.

The stigma label could increase his perception of hopelessness, which, in turn, perpetuates or magnifies the cycle of the illness. His family may feel the effects of the stigma since many people mistakenly consider all mental disorders to be either genetic or the result of an unfavorable upbringing. This, in turn, can erroneously create the family’s feelings of unfounded guilt or embarrassment. His friends and others in his support system can also be negatively impacted by the stigma simply from an association standpoint, possibly resulting in them distancing themselves from an already somewhat isolated patient. So the stigma exasperates the patient’s internal negative perceptions and can externally create conflict between him and those closest to him.

While the treatment methodology for mental illness has improved over the last few decades, the negative stigma surrounding those who seek care is still a major roadblock. (Corrigan, 2004) To better understand the term stigma, the definition must first be examined. According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary Stigma is defined as “a set of negative often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something; a mark of shame or discredit.” (Stigma, 2015). These views are often

The movie “Girl, Interrupted” portrays several women admitted into a psychiatric ward for various illness and different lengths of stay. The movie is based on the book, by Susanna Kaysen, which voices a memoir of her life after her diagnosis and is also based on her own experiences in her stay in the hospital. The storyline follows the main character, Susanna Kaysen, during her stay and shows the process it takes for her to come to terms with her illness as well as her becoming “friends” with the other women while discovering herself. Although the psychiatric ward in this movie is not very strict and fails to adhere to rules in play today, many of the disorders the women are diagnosed with are accurate with the teachings and book notes learned throughout this abnormal psychology course.

Girl, Interrupted, illustrated eighteen-year-old, Susana Kaysen, who had found herself at McLean Hospital, where she spent almost two years trying to figure out how to react to the strange and chaotic world appropriately. McLean Hospital protected its patients from the repercussions, that would’ve resulted happened if they were outside of the hospital walls, from their violence or choices. Kaysen discusses how McLean was as much of a refuge as it was a prison and how the hospital protected its patients. “Naked, we needed protection and the hospital protected us” (94). Although McLean had stripped the girls down, so they could build the girls back up, the hospital gave freedom from consequences to its patients that many people in the 60s were unable to

Girl Interrupted is a discerning, unwavering document that gives long-lasting and precise dimension to our explanations of stable and insane, mental illness and recovery. This intense novel uses language, literary terms and structure to express the struggle that author Susanna Kaysen went through in her lifetime. This story contains a strong use of literary Language and terms. The Terms are stated firmly and clearly through the entire book. For example when Susanna says, "And somewhat more dangerous things, like putting a gun in your mouth", this is an example of a simile when she is speaking about suicide.

Girl Interrupted, an excursion for admirers of flatout enticing memoir realities, sees yet another of New York Times best selling books by Susanna Kaysen. In her exhilarating yet despairing experience through the varied and sometimes surreal ambiences of Mclean psychiatric hospital in the late 1960’s. Kaysen finds herself in an endearing dilemma when agreeing to be institutionalized at an insane asylum after her diagnosis of personality disorder for two entire years. I’d highly recommend this book based off the intriguing context that she presents and the way she visually captivates her audience only with the use of words and bases them off of hypothetical theories as to what mental illness is.

Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted: Telling Susanna’s journey through therapy and being sent to McLean Hospital when she wasn’t sure if she needed the help or not. She meets new people, and goes through many new experiences. Susanna thought at first that she was wrongly admitted to the hospital, then ends up not wanting to go back into the world unprotected.

Girl Interrupted is a book that follows Susanna Kaysen an eight-teen year old who had just been admitted into the Massachusetts psychiatric Hospital McLean. In the book, Susanna has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality disorder. The book defines borderline personality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition (DSM-III). It states that the most prominent characteristic of a borderline personality is an uneven sense of identity. This instability itself ins conflicted relationships, an inability to make ethical choices, confusion about sexual identity, and a persistent sense that one’s life lacks meaning or direction. Fear of abandonment is common, as are intense mood swings. Stress can trigger suicidal

Susanna Kaysen’s “Girl Interrupted,” is an autobiography in relation to Kaysen’s two-year stay at a mental hospital as she battles borderline personality disorder. Although in denial, Susanna Kaysen is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder but is unable to come to terms with her illness as she reassures herself she is fine. The reader learns that Kaysen is an unreliable narrator that is unable to discover the truth behind her illness. Through the exploration of her relationships, actions, and opinions, enhances the fact that Kaysen is mentally ill. Through her past and present relationship’s, Susanna demonstrates her self-destructive tendencies. Kaysen’s impulsivity in the novel is another indication that her diagnosis is fitting. Finally, Kaysen’s thought process and anxious behavior further prove her as a candidate for BPD.

The movie “Girl, Interrupted” is based on a memoir written by Susanna Kaysen, who is also the main person depicted in the movie. The movie takes place in a mental institution during the 1960’s. There are several disorders portrayed in the movie. Since the time period is about 50 years ago, some of the disorders were treated much differently than we would treat them today.

The late 1960s psychological drama book and movie, Girl, Interrupted, follows the story of Susanna Kaysen, a young woman who finds herself at a renowned mental institution for troubled young women. During her stay, she must subconsciously choose between the world of people who belong on the inside, or the often difficult world of reality on the outside. Throughout the duration of Susanna’s treatment, she comes along other personalities such as Lisa Rowe the sociopath, and Daisy Randone who suffers with compulsive eating disorder and self-injuries. Reviewing Susanna’s expressed symptoms and behaviors, I do believe she was mentally ill and needed to be committed into McLean Hospital.

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