Susanna's Case Study Essay

722 Words3 Pages

Susanna showed the careless behaviors of promiscuity and impulsiveness, by the relationship she had with the teacher. Whereas, it was not the teacher who lacked boundaries, but rather Susanna’s desires for him, and her issues with lacking healthy boundaries. Susanna cannot distinguish between healthy attachments and unhealthy ones. She has a risky sexual relationship with the teacher, engaged in sexual acts at Claymoore with a hospital employee, and when her ex-boyfriend came to visit they engaged in sexual actions. Susanna shows that through her mental illness, she is unable to create and differentiate healthy and unhealthy boundaries in her life. The only sort of defined relationship she had was with a guy who she broke up with because he …show more content…

These unstable relationships stemmed from her parents to friendships, and romances, whereas for at the moment made her feel whole. Susanna is that she does not like to attract attention to herself and rather prefers to be disengaged, unlike her experience at in the ice cream shop, and the wife of the teacher she had an affair with confronted her. At first, Susanna was trying to be polite to keep the attention away, but ultimately with the other girl's help, Susanna created an uncomfortable scene by being loud and creating attention to what was happening. Susanna also expresses emptiness by spontaneity, through the example of when she left with Lisa to go fulfill Lisa’s dream of being Cinderella at Disney world, or when she broke into the music room to play a song to calm Polly down after her episode, knowing that these acts of behavior is strongly prohibited, but still creates some sort of excitement for Susanna. Susanna Kaysen has borderline personality disorder whereas she expresses erratic behaviors and intense shifts in mood that can last only a few hours at a time, she attempted suicide during a time of extreme depression/anger, feelings of emptiness, loneliness, and mistreatment. People who have borderline personality disorder are usually diagnosed in early adulthood after the age of 18. These individuals display instability in all types of relationships in their lives. The self-view, worth, and disturbed thoughts occur early