Girl Interrupted was a movie adapted from Susanna Kaysen’s memoir and was released in 1999. The movie was directed by James Mangold and it starred Winona Ryder, Brittany Murphy, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg, Jared Leto and Vanessa Redgrave. The movie setting was based in the 1960’s, and depicts the lives of the mental patients and how they were treated in a mental hospital. The main character was Susanna Kaysen a Caucasian female teenager from an affluent family. The beginning of the movie shows Susanna talking to a friend of her dad who was also a former therapist and he was encouraging her to check herself into a hospital after taking an overdose of aspirin and vodka. During the conversation with the family friend, Susanna started talking …show more content…
Provide adequate lighting for the client, make sure the client is comfortable and provide light snacks. The psychiatrists at the hospital diagnosed Susanna with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), diagnostic code 301.83. The enduring patterns for BPD were distinct impulsivity, instability of interpersonal relationships, self image and affects. There are nine criteria’s and Susanna has to identify with five of them to fit the diagnostic criteria for BPD and it has to begin in early childhood in different context. Susanna was above eighteen years of age when she was diagnosed and the movie did not give details on the onset for the disorder. My rational for assigning this diagnosis are as follow: Criterion 1) frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment; when Lisa, who was her sociopath friend in the movie, was moved to a different ward after she drugged a nurse when she tried to escape; Susanna had a hissy fit with the staffs screaming and demanding to know where her friend was located. She was so worried and viewed her friend as “all that she had left”. Susanna looked like she was having a mental break down because of fear of losing Lisa. Criterion 2) pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation; Susanna idealizes her friend Liza’s …show more content…
Her culture will affect her diagnoses because according to an article by the Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry (Paris, 2013) suggested that BPD and some of its associated symptoms such as suicidality and self-harm have a higher prevalence in developed countries. Another factor will be her friendships, especially with Lisa; Lisa disregards social mores, she is not remorseful and she has violent tendency and Susanna still want to be her friend despite Lisa’s horrid behavior. Lastly, her age is a factor affecting her diagnosis because according to DSM-5, onset was early adulthood or adolescence; Susanna was eighteen years at the time she was
Although Susanna Kaysen’s ordinary world is somewhat unstable and ambiguous in its direction, and her call to adventure is life-threatening, Susanna’s circumstances set her on a journey of self-understanding and discovery. There are parallels between Kaysen and Alex McCandless, the
She acquired borderline personality disorder because her husband, Tommy passed away. In the DSM-5, borderline personality is described as “a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five of the following” (Butcher, Hooley, & Minek, 2014, 342). Tiffany showed at least five symptoms of borderline personality
Denise Gilmartin, a 26 year old female, exhibits behaviors which meet criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder. Denise exhibits unstable intense interpersonal relationships characterized by idealization and devaluation (Criterion 2). She has a history of brief tumultuous relationships and friendships. They start of with quick intense attachments and are described by Denise as “wonderful” and “incredibly special” (idealization); however, these feelings quickly devolve into “contempt” and “loathing” (devaluation). Additionally, Denise displays an unstable sense of self (Criterion 3). Her unsteady employment history is partially explained by dramatic shifts in interests. She switched from marketing to legal work to waitressing. It is also important to note that interpersonal issues underly most of her
People with Borderline Personality Disorder tend to view the world as simple as possible. People who view the world like this, confuse the actions of others. (Hoermann et al, 2005) Recurrent thoughts about their relationships with others, lead them to experience extreme emotional reactions, great agony which they have a hard time controlling, which would result in engaging in self-destructive behaviors. Diagnosing a patient with this disorder can be challenging which is why is it is labeled as one of the difficult ones to diagnose. (Hoermann et al, 2005)
Disco Di have shown these symptoms during her time when she ran away from her parents because they would not pay attention to her. She got into drugs use, had many promiscuous relationships with boys. Her relations with these boys were full off passion and chaotic with many violent arguments. She would seek out excitements such as getting drunk and go dancing where she would leave with strange men then have intercourse. After being admitted to a hospital, she would always expect and demanded that people would always have to pay attention to her. Also, I believe this because in the journal “Histrionic Personality Disorder” it stated “Histrionic PD is indicated when people exaggerate their emotions and go to excessive lengths to seek attention” (Crawford et al, 2007) and this is indicated when Disco Di ran away from home because she believed her parent did not pay enough attention to her. Next, the diagnostic feature of her other disorder, borderline personality disorder, is that mark of instability of mood, unstable relationships, chronic feeling of emptiness and recurrent threats of
Mental health is not the mere absence of illness but it is the sense of harmony and balance for the individual. Aspects associated with the individual include self-worth, sense of accomplishment, and a positive identity (Fontaine, 2009), where as mental illness is the disharmony someone is experiencing. This disharmony affects not only the individual but their friends and family as well as the surrounding community. This disharmony causes the person to be unable to function properly in many aspects of their life (Fontaine, 2009). Disco Di started to display signs of mental illness from the young age of 12. Her behaviours may have been triggered by a traumatic event and have been interfering with her life ever since. I agree with the diagnosis that Disco Di was given which was an Axis I diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Axis II diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This paper is going to explain why I agree with these diagnoses as well as genetic and cultural factors and treatment method for them.
Borderline Personality Disorder in “Girl Interrupted” The movie, “Girl Interrupted,”is about a teenage girl named Susanna Kaysen who has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. People with Borderline Personality Disorder “are often emotionally unstable, impulsive, unpredictable, irritable, and anxious. They are also prone to boredom. Their behavior is similar to that of individuals with schizotypal personality disorder, but they are not as consistently withdrawn and bizarre” (Santrock, 2003).
In order for someone to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, they must experience at least five of the following symptoms: 1) fear of abandonment, 2) a history of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, which often go back and forth between idealization (which includes love and extreme closeness) to devaluation (which includes extreme hatred or anger), 3) a disto...
The latter belief inspired her to start a political campaign and achieve a high position in the government. She also suffered from depression in the past, which led to contemplations about suicide at one point. Besides showing all appropriate symptoms, her environmental and inheritance factors point out that she has predispositions to develop the bipolar disorder. According to the Center for Clinical Interventions (n.d.), “There are a number of factors that interact with each other that may contribute to the development of this disorder in some people”. The factors can be both environmental and genetic.
An estimated 1.6%-5.9% of the adult population in the United States has BPD, with nearly 75% of the people who are diagnosed being women. Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder include Frantic efforts to avoid being abandoned by friends and family, Unstable personal relationships that alternate between idealizations, Distorted and unstable self-image, Impulsive behaviors that can have dangerous outcomes, Suicidal and self-harming behavior, Periods of intense depressed mood, irritability or anxiety lasting a couple hours/days, Chronic feelings of boredom or emptiness, Inappropriate, intense or uncontrollable anger - often followed by shame and guilt, and Dissociative feelings. The three main factors that could cause this mental illness are Genetics, Environmental factors, and Brain function. This illness can only be diagnosed by a mental health professional after a series of interviews with the patient and family/friends of the patient. The patient must also have at least five of the nine symptoms of this illness in order to be diagnosed. The most common treatment for this illness is some form of psychotherapy. Some other treatment options are to prescribe medications and if needed a short-term
When it came time to pick a stage of development, I chose the stage of middle childhood. The movie that best depicted this stage of development to me was the 1991 movie “My Girl”. In this movie, you see a 11-year-old girl named Vada Sultenfuss going through a lot of psychosocial and cognitive changes in her life. She has grown up without her mother due to instant death when being born and she blames herself for her mother’s passing. Her dad is very absent in the upbringing of Vada, as he focuses most of his time and energy into his work as a mortician. Vada is surrounded by death due to the fact that they live in the house where her father constructs his business which is why her view on death is demented. When her dad becomes involved
Diana Miller, 25 was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder after being rushed to the hospital following another suicide attempt . Her symptoms and background are outlined in her vignette and will be examined in detail throughout the paper. The purpose of this essay will be to explore the possible additional diagnoses for Diana’s behaviour as well as look deeper into the feasible explanations of how and why her behaviour turned abnormal. Therefore through analyzing the diagnostic features, influence of culture, gender, and environment, in addition to outlining paradigm explanations and possible treatment methods, one can better understand Diana Miller’s diagnoses.
The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1992. Print.
BPD is a complex disorder in a sense that the symptoms such as depression, anxiety and substance abuse may cause a misdiagnosis thus overlooking BPD completely (Biskin & Paris, 2013). This personality disorder has also been known to occur simultaneously with anxiety disorders, eating disorders and bipolar mood disorders (Butcher, Mineka & Hooley, 2014). In addition, the prevalence of BPD decreases in older individuals (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Girl Interrupted Review Cherie Pryor Denver College of Nursing Girl Interrupted is a film about a young woman, Susanna Kaysen, who voluntarily enters a psychiatric facility in Massachusetts. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a portrayal of psychiatric care in the 1960’s. The film is based on the memoirs of Susanna Kaysen and her experiences during an 18 month stay at a mental institution. During her visit, Susanna is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The film depicts psychiatric care, diagnoses, and treatments from a different era.