The Bell Jar Stigma

Symptoms of the Stigma

How the Stigma Associated with Mental Illnesses Affects a Diagnosed Individual

The only shameful thing associated with mental illnesses is the stigma: yet, many people who are diagnosed are silenced due to the taboo image attached. A stigmatized environment can have a detrimental effect on an individual’s ability to trust themselves, their families and psychiatric institutions. In the novels, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Finding Alice by Melody Carlson, the protagonists, Esther Greenwood and Alice Laxton, are placed in situations where the stigma of mental illnesses affects them more than the actual illness. In both novels, the stigma of mental illnesses cause the protagonists to lose their sense of self and trust.

In the novel, Alice is raised in a Christian household where her family and community is a part of a close-minded church. Aware of her grandmother’s schizophrenia, she believed her journey would be a painful but full of support from her family. However, the negative views and beliefs in her family church damages the treatment of her mental illness. Alice is tortured and exorcised by her church and then sent to a psychiatric institution. After learning how to cope and accept her schizophrenia, she tries to educate the church on what mental illness is. However, her attempt is useless as the Pastor states, “Mental illness, is nothing more than a New Age word for demonization, [...] I will not listen to such blasphemy in God’s holy house. You must leave, Alice. Unless you repent of your sin and rebuke Satan from your life, you are not welcome here” (Carlson 354). The toxicity of her childhood environment is assuredly one of the main contributing factors to her severe psychosis, especially since the schizophrenia is often connected to God and religion. It is evident that the church and the community that follows it will never change their views. However, her mother attempts to escape their values and disregard the stigma of mental illnesses to repair her relationship with Alice: “My mom looks hopefully at me. As if she thinks her decision to leave the Salvation

However, the mistrust in their unethical practices is just as strong as they were in the 1950s. In contrast to The Bell Jar, Alice finds liberation after suffering in her church, psychiatric institutions and the streets; here, she reflects on being institutionalized: “I don’t understand why medical professionals would think that removing a patient’s right to think and choose would help that person to get healthy again. It certainly didn’t help me a bit” (Carlson 343-4). The entire novel criticizes the environment of psychiatric institutions. More specifically, it denounces the intentional use of drugs to diminish an individual’s ability to thrive in society. The authoritarian atmosphere embeds the idea that Alice is defective and her ability heal is hopeless, she further elaborates her emotions: “I felt like a complete victim, totally at their mercy. I had no control over anything. I couldn’t even use the bathroom without permission. This only reinforced my belief that everyone there was plotting against me. It’s no wonder so many institutionalized patients grow paranoid” (Carlson 343). This implies that the proclaimed insanity and distress many institutionalized patients experience, are due to the persuasion that they are deranged and useless; not to mention, the incredibly inhumane medical practices that are used to ‘heal’. Conclusively, both