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Girl Interrupted

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By erinod
Words 1162
Pages 5
The movie Girl,Interrupted is an intense movie that follows the journey of the lives of a group of women in a mental institution. Taken place in 1960's America, the movie is based on the life of Susanna Kaysen,, as she voluntarily checks herself into an institution after she tried to commit suicide. The movie chronicles the the life inside an institution and the many disorders the women are facing. Susanna, is a high school senior preparing to graduate, until she decides to take an entire bottle of Aspirin followed by a bottle of vodka. After this questionable act, her parents arrange for a meeting with a family friend who is an ex-therapist. Upon closer examination of Susanna, he believes that she was trying to commit suicide, even though Susanna denies the accusations.
According to her parents along with her therapist, Susanna’s unconventional approach of working to further her education as well as her professional career were signs of mental instability. Her promiscuity and shoplifting were seen as warning signs indicating to the authority figures her life and leading to their assumption that she suffered from a mental illness. Being that it was the 60’s times were changing and the new generation wasn’t as conventional as the generation before them. If they were able to understand they could have chalked it up to a confused teenager during a time period of social uncertainty and revolution. The consequences to Susanna’s life that resulted because the authority figures lacked the ability to understand her world were devastating to her. Susanna’s parents allow the therapist to manipulate her into thinking that voluntarily entering into a mental hospital will allow her to get the rest she needs and is the best decision for everyone involved. Susanna is admitted to Claymore Hospital where she is confronted with many different types of girls. Each girl has her own unique story in life and each one is diagnosed with a different illness. Throughout her stay at Claymore, Susanna forms extremely close bonds with the other girls. These are girls Susanna never would have associated with outside of the hospital. Lisa, who is another main character in the movie is classified as a sociopath. The disorder is characterized as pattern of disregard for and violation of rights of others. People with antisocial personality disorder, or sociopaths, fail to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior, they perform actions that are grounds for arrest such as destruction of property, harassing others, stealing and pursuing illegal occupations. Her first developmental stage, the oral stage as Freud would suggest had been insatiable because of lack of tenderness as a child. There had been an uncertainty of whether or not she was cared for or mothered during the time of need, such as crying or weaning, manifested in her penchant for smoking. Her personality was fixated primarily on the Anal Stage, the stage wherein self control and obedience formulated. She experienced the anal stage freely, by her own delight alone, without proper guidance from her parents, whereas the rewards and punishments reinforcement has not been initiated. Throughout the film Lisa lacks to conform to social norms. For instance, on one of her many attempts to run away from the hospital she steals a mans wallet so her and Susanna can have money to go to Florida to see Daisy. Another example is after Daisy hangs herself. Lisa shows no concern for the fact that she is dead or that she was there when it happened. Instead she decides to steal money out of her wallet so she can continue to run. As usual Lisa is brought back to Claymore where she will probably spend the rest of her life because she is incapable of living a normal life outside the help of the staff at the hospital. Daisy, who is another girl that Susanna had become close to was diagnosed with an eating disorder. Daisy would never be seen eating in the cafeteria with the other girls, she only at in her room. Even in privacy she barely ate and when she did it had to be the chicken that her father brought her. Keeping in line with the eating disorder, Daisy was a “laxative junky” as Lisa would refer to her. Unfortunately, Daisy couldn’t handle the remarks that Lisa would make to her and it eventually caused her to commit suicide. Polly “Torch” Clark who poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire is forever disfigured. She is portrayed as a very childlike and emotional girl. For the most part Polly seems to be very content even cheerful while at Claymore. Until she finally realizes the extent of her burns. Unfortunately, for Polly even if she was to come to turns with what she did she will forever be trapped by her consequences. Susanna is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by impulsive actions, rapidly shifting moods, and chaotic relationships, most commonly found in women. The individual usually goes from one emotional crisis to another making it difficult to form close connections with people. Often there is dependency, separation anxiety, unstable self-image, chronic feelings of emptiness, and threats of self-harm such as suicide or self-mutilation. Susanna was brought up in a very close knit family. Her parents tended to be overbearing and for the most part made Susanna’s decisions for herself. Her parents also seem to be neglectful, they did not allow for Susanna’s feelings to be considered when making the decision to hospitalize her. The stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development of Autonomy VS Shame and Doubt was not strong enough. Susanna was unable to develop relationships for herself which may have changed her outcome if it was not for her overbearing parents. She did not have close relationships with other females while in school. Nor was she able to connect with a man in an intimate relationship. She jumped from man to man without making any connections. Throughout the film Susanna displayed a few of the symptoms associated with borderline personality disorder. First, she attempted suicide by taking a whole bottle of aspirin followed by a bottle vodka. She made several references to suicide in the conversations she had with her boyfriend. Susanna also showed self-mutilating behavior. While in the cab ride on her way to the hospital she admitted to the cab driver that she was “sad” and on another occasion she admitted to her therapist that she had “not exactly been a ball of joy.” Initially in denial of her disorder and suicide attempt upon entry to the psychiatric institution Claymore, she learns to cope with her disorder, accept who she is, and learns to make meaningful lasting friendships. If it was not for her stay at the hospital Susanna never would have become the person she became. She owes a lot to the girls that she met and even to the one nurse Val.

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