Girl, Interrupted

I began reading the book Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen.  It's a memoir of her stay at McLean Mental Hospital in 1967, when she was 18-years old.  I love the book so far.  My best friend got it for me for Christmas, and I was really excited because I am interested stories about mental care in that time period. A lot of famous poets and musicians also stayed at McLean, including Sylvia Plath, one of my favorite poets. I read The Bell Jar last year and it's one of my favorite books.  A large portion of the book takes place at McLean Hospital.  Although The Bell Jar is technically a fiction novel, it is very similar to Plath's struggle with mental illness.  Like the main characer, Esther, she stayed at McLean Hospital for a portion of her life.  The two books are similar in documenting the lives of being a young woman living in a mental hospital.  It's interesting to learn more about McLean and the types of patients that stayed there.

My favorite aspect of Girl, Interrupted so far is being able to vividly imagine what it's like to be in Susanna's head.  She is suicidal, and has attempted suicide in the past.  She is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and it appears that she has OCD symptoms as well.  For example, she goes into detail explaining how patterns bother her because she can't help but search for meaning in them.  When she looks a black and white checkered floor, the contrasts makes her feel uneasy.  She sees yes and no, life and death, etc.  Kaysen also uses vivid description to describe the feelings of mental illness in general.  I love when she describes insanity as either "viscosity or velocity", which are metaphors for depression and mania.  She uses other scientific comparisons throughout the book.

I can't imagine being locked away and having every aspect of life controlled at 18-years old.  18 is supposed to be "the time of your life."  High school ends, you get more freedom, and you have a whole whirlwind of opportunities in front of you.  It seems awful to have all of this taken away in order to receive permanent mental health care.  Susanna discusses this when she brings up the student nurses that occasionally work at McLean.  The student nurses are around the patients' ages, and they represent normal life.  The girls at McLean enjoy talking to the student nurses, because they can discuss normal-life topics with them such as grades and relationships.  Susanna says that the student nurses are a reminder of what life could have been for all the patients if they weren't at McLean.

I'm a little over halfway done with the book, and I'm excited to learn what happens to Susanna.  Although she struggles with mental illness, I don't think she deserves to stay in a mental hospital for so long.  Her pyschiatrist sent her there after only a short conversation.  He convinced her to go to McLean and said she would only be staying there for a few weeks.  Kaysen mentions that she ended up staying for two years.  Because she is suicidal, she is a danger to herself.  However, she does not appear to be a danger to society.  She is not violent, and she doesn't wreak havoc like some of the other characters in the book.  I think she would be better off at home.  The book makes me wonder what the effect of mental hospitals had on patients during this time period.  The patients have to undergo electric shock therapy and take strong medications.  The type of treatment the mentally ill received undoubtedly made their mental illness worse.  All the harsh treatments most likely made the patients more mentally ill than they were originally.