Summary Of Girl Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen

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. It is the way that

Lisa was diagnosed as a sociopath who was previously a drug addict. She would continuously “act out” and always tried to escape the ward although she was always unsuccessful. She was very outspoken, rebellious, competitive, and humorous. An example of this is when she decided to cover all of the furniture, television, and the sprinkler system with toilet paper as revenge to the ward who had found her a couple of days before, after one of the many attempts she did to try to escape. Towards the ending of the book, Keysan recalls seeing Lisa a few years after they were released in the middle of Harvard Square. Lisa had her son with her who was about three years old. She mentioned that she was no longer with the child's father, however she was not upset by this. She responded by patting her sons head and said “We don't need him, do we?” She also mentioned her apartment in the suburbs and going to Temple which she did in order to give her son a “real life”. I found it interesting how Lisa, even after being diagnosed as a sociopath, was able to lead a somewhat normal life. It was her child who had changed her life and gave her something to motivate herself because her son gave her