Girl, interrupted is an outstanding representation of mental illness. The story follows 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen who is going through troubled times after graduating high school. The beginning showcases a therapy session with a paid professional it was decided that she should move into a mental institution for the present time after her attempt at suicide. Within the mental institution Susanna herself, Lisa and Valerie are three of the characters audiences are drawn to and curious about, on why they do the things that they do. In the early stages of the film, as aforementioned Susanna omits herself into the Claymoore institute, where she stumbles across a group of women all going through some form of mental instability from eating disorders …show more content…
Once she does accept it, her recovery begins; she finally understands the only way she can get better and out of the institute is to embrace what she has been given and comprehends that “crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It’s you or me.. Amplified.” The ending of the film showcases Susanna ultimately has her final days at Claymoore and moves on to bigger and better things. It can then be further interpreted that Susanna’s time at Claymoore was just simply an interruption not her whole …show more content…
She has gone through countless of patients, which all respect her to no ends; even the sociopath Lisa respects her and listens to what she says. Moreover Valerie is the only nurse that can restrain Lisa which to do, valerie must be incredibly strong. Valerie’s job isn’t an easy job and for a typical person the occupation would take a massive toll on an individual. Valerie however thrives in the position she is put in, what brings her back everyday is the potential she sees in all her patients. The will to help people and the persistence she displays, enforces how fantastic of a woman Valerie truly is. Moreover, Valerie’s job isn’t the most glamorous, however considering that at the time of the film, which is the late 60’s the world was still not segregated, it could quite possibly be the only job she can find. In addition to the previous statement, Valerie does what she needs to do, not only for the patients, but for herself as an individual and places more beauty in the world
It is never told exactly what has caused Lisa Shilling to slip into this state of depression, which helps to make the atmosphere of the novel very mysterious. Just when it appears that Lisa is getting better, another episode occurs. The story is disturbing, being set around Lisa’s school and home. With other characters in the story, such as Lisa’s parents, causing conflicts with Lisa receiving proper treatment, the story is given a disturbing yet realistic feel.
However, these thoughts are not always true all the time. Sometimes Hollywood makes films to show the audience the truth contained in the movie. In the movie “Girl, Interrupted,” the filmmakers have balanced the grim realism of the book with audience-pleasing elements of entertainment in order to make the film more comfortable. The graphic representation of mental illness makes audiences feel its realities, while the use of attractive actresses captures the attention of the audiences and makes it easier to relate to the story.
The novel Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen shows the reader what life is like inside of a mental hospital in 1967. In this autobiographical novel, Susanna Kaysen is admitted into McLean Hospital, where she spends two years forced to follow the hospitals strict rules and being subjected to the nurse's constant checks and constant invasions of privacy. The movie was directed by James Mangold in 1999, and while it maintained some of the major elements in the book, several side characters were left out, such as Georgina's boyfriend Wade and the drug addict Torrey, and major plots were changed or left out completely.
Is acceptance of mental illness the key to living a more fulfilled life? I first became interested in bipolar or, manic-depression a few years ago when somebody close to me was diagnosed with it. I wanted to understand it better, but found that the jargon and detached observations of psychiatric theory and practice that you can find on the internet didn’t really help me to understand what people actually go through. Kay Redfield Jamison’s ‘An Unquiet Mind’ manages to cut through all that to create a fiery, passionate, authentic account of the psychotic experience and introduce you to the facts of the illness without you even realizing it. Kay Jamison’s story is proof that mentally ill people, with help from medication, can live a wonderful life.
Living in a mental hospital for almost two years, Susanna Kaysen wonders why she is there and if she belongs there. Without getting any true answers from her doctors, she struggles to accept her disorder and working to get rid of it. The movie, Girl Interrupted is full of psychological principles I’ve learned throughout the year, which play a role in how Susanna grows as a character. Besides the fact that Susanna has a Borderline Personality Disorder, she is a victim of conformity and self-fulfilling prophecies. These principles are what determine if Susanna is sane or not, and if she will be able to come
According to (Barlow, 2001), Schizophrenia is a psychological or mental disorder that makes the patient recognize real things and to have abnormal social behavior. Schizophrenia is characterized by symptoms such as confused thinking, hallucinations, false beliefs, demotivation, reduced social interaction and emotional expressions (Linkov, 2008). Diagnosis of this disorder is done through observation of patient’s behavior, and previously reported experiences (Mothersill, 2007). In this paper, therefore, my primary goal is to discuss Schizophrenia and how this condition is diagnosed and treated.
...f the bad that is going on in her real life, so she would have a happy place to live. With the collapse of her happy place her defense was gone and she had no protection from her insanity anymore. This caused all of her blocked out thoughts to swarm her mind and turn her completely insane. When the doctor found her, he tried to go in and help her. When the doctor finally got in he fainted because he had made so many positive changes with her and was utterly distressed when he found out that it was all for naught. This woman had made a safety net within her mind so that she would not have to deal with the reality of being in an insane asylum, but in the end everything failed and it seems that what she had been protecting herself from finally conquered her. She was then forced to succumb to her breakdown and realize that she was in the insane asylum for the long run.
“HE’S GOT THE WORLD ON TWO STRINGS”(pg21). Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers go through a lot since Steve met Nathaniel a homeless man whole plays the violin in downtown Los Angeles. Nathaniel is a homeless man who has paranoid schizophrenia travels downtown Los Angeles pushing his cart with his violin in it. Steve is a writer works for the Los Angeles Times and is always looking for a story for he can write for his column. Both Nathaniel and Steve create a friendship even though with all the challenges but in the book The Soloist it shows how they created a friendship. Even though in The Soloist they talk about how mental illness is a choice, force medication to treat the illness, and the way people treat you.
The movie “The Roommate,” revolves around a young girl named Sarah (Minka Kelly) who is starting her freshman year of college. Little does she know that she has a roommate that is diagnosed with numerous mental disorders that she is not treating by taking her medication. When they are initially acquainted as roommates, Sara comes across as being innocent and depicts very normal behavior. However, as soon as Rebecca and Sarah become closer to each other, Rebecca forms an obsession with Sara and strange events begin to occur. Each of Sarah’s close friends or allies becomes hurt, and even killed. As soon as Sara discovers the symptoms of her mental illness, she becomes extremely wary in her presence, and grows more distant of her. Additionally, she sees her as a threat and as the cause of all the wrongdoing that is occurring around her.
Instead of caring for her, they learned from her. In one scene, around four medical students were all touching her stomach at once while trying to learn more about her disease. On the other hand, the nurses are there to care for the paitent. The only one in the film who was ever nice to Vivian was her nurse, Susan Monahan. In order for a hospital to function, there needs to be physicans, nurses, and an administration team. The nurses are there to make sure the patients remain emotionally and physically stable. Susan Monahan simply kept Vivian company. Whenever Vivian was nauseaus or felt overwhelemed with coming to terms with the illness, Susan would make sure to comfort her. She took the time to get to know her personally, and was the first to know that Vivian did not wish to be resisitated when her heart stopped beating. This was a very difficult decision that Vivian had to make, yet it was what she
For an example in one particular scene, Tiffany has an episode of irritability towards her sister with assumption that her sister hates her; which included loud inappropriate comments and an abrupt exit. There were also symptoms shown such as an excess desire for sex. Tiffany casually talks about all the men she has slept with since her husband’s death, including “the whole office” at her previous job. This is a way she has learned how to deal with her depression.
History shows that signs of mental illness and abnormal behavior have been documented as far back as the early Greeks however, it was not viewed the same as it is today. The mentally ill were previously referred to as mad, insane, lunatics, or maniacs. W.B. Maher and B.A. Maher (1985) note how many of the terms use had roots in old English words that meant emotionally deranged, hurt, unhealthy, or diseased. Although early explanations were not accurate, the characteristics of the mentally ill have remained the same and these characteristics are used to diagnose disorders to date. Cultural norms have always been used to assess and define abnormal behavior. Currently, we have a decent understanding of the correlates and influences of mental illness. Although we do not have complete knowledge, psychopathologists have better resources, technology, and overall research skills than those in ancient times.
In the film “ A Beautiful Mind” John Nash experiences a few different positive symptoms. The first of these positive symptoms are seen through the hallucinations John has of having a room -mate while at Princeton. This room- mate continues to stay “in contact” with John through out his adult life and later this room- mate’s niece enters Johns mind as another coinciding hallucination. Nash’s other hallucination is Ed Harris, who plays a government agent that seeks out Nash’s intelligence in the field of code- breaking.
In conclusion, Girl Interrupted displayed many accurate traits of the psychiatric disorders depicted. Susanna Kaysen’s memoirs provided a strong backbone for a film to show outsiders what life was like inside a psychiatric facility in the 1960’s.
She thought that becoming a nurse was something that changed your life instead of it just being a simple way for women to make money. The writings and teachings of Nightingale transformed the view of nursing into that of a scholarly, fulfilling vocational effort for wellness. Her most well-known teachings of nursing come from her writing piece Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is Not. It establishes a clear view on who a nurse is, and why they are important. What she writes may be looked at today as common sense, but at the time her ideas were ground breaking. She wrote that taking care of a patient is about taking care of all their aspects of health, recognizing that patients are people too. A good amount of the time when people used to get sick they were sent away from society often expected to die. Nightingale believed that everyone who is ill deserves a chance to be treated. However, she also drew boundaries as to what nurses should do. She made it very clear that the doctors should be the ones deciding on medicine and treatment, while nurses are still equally important. This piece of writing alone challenged women to become nurses, and proved the title of nursing to be something you had to earn. It offered guidance to the nursing community, and propelled the respect for nurses even further in a society that had just began to accept