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Girl Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen

600 Words3 Pages

Susanna Kaysen the eighteenth-year-old teenager that was the protagonist of the movie Girl, Interrupted was diagnosed with borderline personality even though, she firmly denied her mental condition at the beginning of the movie. However, in the movie, we were able to see that she has mood swings and chaotic social relationships. She does not have any friends, is a marginalized teenager, depressed, inconstant, lonely, with inappropriate sexual behavior and no communication with her conservative family. Although, Susanna says many times that she feels empty. For this reason, she uses her notebook to draw pictures and express her emotions. It may be due to little support from her father, the fact of not having friends, or just feeling different and like she does not fit. Likewise, more than impulsiveness her behavior is uncontrollable. Susanna is not able to control …show more content…

The treatment the patients received from the staff was sometimes inappropriate and rude. The nurses were disrespectful and impatient with them. Principally, the sleeping pills were forced to be drunk by everyone even though one might not need them. Additionally, their recreational activities were limited to the point that the patients felt it was like a prison. Susanna’s experience in this mental institution makes her realize that the staff was unable to look at each individual in its essence. A place where sadness, misunderstandings, and mental breakdowns are cured with a dose of tranquilizers, electroshock or insipid exercises. Yet it is possible to treat the patients with a more amiable environment and relationships. On the other hand, most patients were friendly with each other and were allowed to watch television and sometimes they were able to exercise and paint. Susanna met people with various personality disorders and establishes a close, affective and protective

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Life more than often puts us in difficult situation, which some of us can handle without a mental breakdown, however for others it is not so easy. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen shows us how this is true. This book is a memoir about Susanna Kaysen and her two year experience that began when she was eighteen, at residential psychiatric facility during the 1960s. The reader is able to gain insight into the mind of a person diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and some information of how it is to be in a psychiatric facility; including its environment and the variety of patients in the institution. Through this book, we learn that anyone is susceptible to obtaining a mental disorder, some more severe than others.

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Her strict rules, though a reflection of the broken institution’s methods, serve to maintain order in the most efficient way possible as she believes “its best to stick to our daily routine” (Kesey 92). She acts in an extreme fashion for two reasons, because she must follow the policy of the institution and because she works with patients who possess mental illnesses and have an unpredictable nature. She continues to justify her means of order by saying, “Please understand: We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value,” later elaborating that “it is entirely for your own good that we enforce discipline and order” (Kesey 155). She uses her care for her patients as the main justification of her methods of treatment, showing that she puts their improvement above all other concerns. By wishing the ultimate best for her patients, She shows that she does not wish to harm them or degrade them directly like an antagonist would.

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She reports that she has feels empty and that she has felt detached from her family and everyone else. Susanna also reports that she has never sought treatment and have never been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. She says she does not want to return to the sad place and fears that she will slip into a similar place. In terms of symptoms, Susanna reported that she feels extreme uncontrollable anger and that a fear of abandonment seems to play a role also.

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