Summary Of Girl Interrupted By Susanna Kaysen

Susanna Kaysen’s “Girl Interrupted,” is an autobiography about 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, only 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.

Before being admitted into the hospital, Kaysen confesses to attempting suicide. This is an impulsive move as Kaysen recounts not truly understanding why she felt the need to take her life. “I had an inspiration once. I woke up one morning and I knew that today I had to swallow fifty aspirin. It was my task: my job for the day. I lined them up on my desk and took them one by one, counting” (Kaysen 47). Dr. Bressert explains that another symptom of BPD is, “Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging” (Bressert). Here, readers are exposed to a self-harming side of Kaysen and the reality of her disorder. Unaware of the severity of her attempted suicide, Kaysen continues to showcase denial. Kaysen cuts her arms to ensure she still has bones like a normal person. This destructive behavior solidifies Kaysen illness. “I’m trying to get to the bottom of this,’ I said. ‘Bottom of what?’ Georgina looked angry. ‘My hand,’ I said, waving it around. A dribble of blood went down my wrist. Oh God I thought, there weren’t any bones, there’s nothing there. ‘Do I have bones?’ I couldn’t stop asking” (Kaysen 103). From the beginning to the end of the novel, Kaysen is impulsively hurting herself. This self-harm is one of the symptoms of BPD. (Bressert). While Susanna was sitting in the living room at the hospital watching T.V,

This is made clear when Kaysen says, “In the parallel universe, the laws of physics are suspended. What goes up does not necessarily come down, a body at rest does not tend to stay at rest and not every action can be counted on to provoke an equal and opposite reaction. Time, 'too, is different. It may run in circles, flow backward, skip about from now to then. The very arrangement of molecules is fluid: Tables can be clocks, faces, flowers” (Kaysen 6). Here, Kaysen explains that the world in which she lives is an alternate universe. She sees herself living in a universe in which time is slower or sometimes faster. Her perception on life allows readers to understand that she unstable in a sense that she feels so disconnected from reality. This feeling of disconnection is another symptom of BPD that is explained by Dr. Bressert as, “transient, stress-related paranoid thoughts or severe dissociative symptoms” (Bressert). Near the beginning of the novel, Kaysen takes readers through her thinking process and how she evaluates certain situations showcasing anxious behavior. “I was having a problem with patterns. Oriental rugs, tile floors, printed curtains, things like that. Supermarkets were especially bad, because of the long, hypnotic checkerboard aisles. When I looked at these things I saw other things within them” (Kaysen 41). Through her disoriented thoughts,