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Girl Interrupted Mental Illness

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On Analyzing: Girl, Interrupted
Set in the mid to late 1960s, Girl, Interrupted directed by James Mangold is a psychological drama released in 1999. The film is based on Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, which follows Susanna’s experience when sent to Mclean Hospital at eighteen years old, following her suicide attempt. Susanna meets several other women in the ward when sent to the psychiatric hospital, such as Lisa, Daisy, Polly, and Georgina, who all have their individual stories as to why they are staying at the hospital. As the film tracks Susanna’s time at Mclean, the stories of the other women unfold, and the deep psychological disturbances concealed by some of the characters begin to reveal themselves, alongside many unsettling and disturbing …show more content…

Although this diagnosis is accurate and agrees with the symptoms of OCD, for Daisy, OCD is found to be embedded in all parts of Daisy’s personality. Daisy displays a pattern of obsessions and compulsions which are ingrained into her lifestyle and way of thinking, therefore, perhaps a more accurate diagnosis for Daisy would be Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Not only does Daisy take part in rituals and all sorts of compulsions, Daisy is ignorant to the negative effects of her compulsions. Being naive to one’s disorder tends to be a characteristic of people with personality disorders, as their disorder is so deeply ingrained into their mind that they do not think anything of it, and therefore will not seek treatment. Evidence from the film that proves perhaps Daisy’s disorder is more of the nature of a personality disorder is her reluctance to admit that she is struggling. She even managed to be released from the hospital, and live on her own (Girl, Interrupted …show more content…

Personality disorders are notoriously difficult to treat since they are embedded into one’s personality, and the person who has the personality disorder will not seek treatment since they are naive to the problem due to its deep embedment into their character. Whereas, people with OCD will be more likely to seek treatment as they have self awareness to do so and recognize a problem they have. Psychotherapy is the main treatment of choice used for OCPD. In this type of treatment, patients will dive into the root causes of their OCPD. According to Cleveland Clinic “The goal of treatment is to help the person uncover the motivations and fears associated with their thoughts and behavior” (Cleveland

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Daisy's lack of agency in her own life and her willingness to conform to societal expectations are also clear indicators of her static nature.

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In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, Susanna is told that she is mentally ill. They treat her for borderline personality disorder when she does not feel that she has any mental illness at all. When she arrives at the institution she feels as though she does not fit in as she does not see herself as crazy. In Kaysen’s memoir, she is being hyper-treated by the doctors and nurses

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Summary The Movie Helen, tells the story of a well accomplished and successful music professor who is going through depression, Helen. The movie shows how Helen redraws from her life—family, friends and career due to depression. This movie highlights the struggle people with disorders go through, the stigma they face and the importance of patience, understanding and support system for people going through depression or any mental illness. During the movie Helen is forced to come to terms with her depression and overcomes this with the help of her friend Matilda.

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James Mangold’s Girl, Interrupted (1999), a film adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, follows Susanna’s experience at Claymoore, a psychiatric hospital from the late 1960s. It explores mental illness among young women within an institutional setting, a typical site of authority and abjection. Girl, Interrupted portrays mental illness and abjection in female adolescents using the traditional structure of institution films. Abjection, as defined by French philosopher Julia Kristeva, “arises from the process of a child becoming autonomous of his or her mother” (Pheasant-Kelly 5). In other words, it is the human reaction to a threatened breakdown in meaning caused by a loss of distinction or crossing of borders.

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Girl, Interrupted is a movie that is meant to portray multiple different mental illnesses and how they affect a person’s life along with others. It portrays illnesses that affect mood, eating, and thought processes. At the beginning of the movie, Susanna tried to kill herself with Aspirin and Vodka, but claims she had a headache, and was rushed to the hospital. The therapist she met with 4 days after her incident referred her to Claymoore, a psychiatric hospital, to treat her depression. Right as Susanna moved in, she got cornered by Lisa, because Susanna took her best friends place in the room.

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The movie I chose to write my psychology review was on Girl Interrupted. The movie was based on the writer Susanna Kaysen’s and her eighteen month stay at a mental hospital, but the movie was directed by James Mangold. My reasoning’s for choosing this movie was due to the fact that it carried many psychological concepts to it. The movies main script revolved around Susana’s and with the crazy women in a mental institution. This movie had two main characters and they were Susanna (Winona Ryder) and Lisa (Angelina Jolie).

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