The Girl

The Girl, Interrupted is a psychological film by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her encounters as a young lady in a mental institution in the 1960s after being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The main character finds the definition of BPD in the book as “instability of self-image, relationships, and mood; uncertainty about goals; impulsive in activities that are self damaging such as casual sex, social contrariness and a generally pessimistic attitude are often observed” (Bodie, Ryder & Mangold, 1999). With that definition, she just consents to the last part. The main character manifested the symptoms mentioned and is well-portrayed by the actress. Susanna Kaysen (played by Winona Ryder) was admitted to the mental hospital facility because of mental exhaustion and a suicide attempt by ingesting a bottle of aspirin with a bottle of vodka. In addition, she cries before an artistic creation she finds relatable. Susanna faces struggle inside, seeing herself as a ghastly individual. She scratches her hands, urgently needing to know whether there’s as yet bone underneath. Hitting her wrists against a butterfly seat, is the means by which she bears the deadness. As Susanna appeared no less than 5 of the criteria for borderline personality disorder, as recorded in the DSM-IV-TR—(1) Tumultuous connections where part is normal, (2) A consistently evolving mental self view, (3) Impulsive conduct, (4) Frequent scenes of self-mischief, and (5) Dissociative scenes impelled on by trouble—it is sensible to infer that her finding was legitimate.
Susanna’s mental self portrait was not in a critical state, nor was it lifted, rather it changed dependant on her present conditions. It was seen on the progress note of Susanna that she was suffered from depersonalization for around six hours at which time she felt that she wasn’t a genuine individual, only skin. She discussed needing to slice herself to see whether she would seep to demonstrate to herself that she was really alive. She said she might want to see the X-ray of herself to check whether she has any bones or anything inside. Susanna incautiously chooses to endeavor suicide, engage in sexual relations with the father of one of the young ladies in her secondary school class, and influence a run away to escaper from Claymore with Lisa. Susanna’s guardians are apparently cherishing and minding people, yet on occasion they can be icy and egotistical making Susanna pull back from them. It winds up apparent from a flashback to her secondary school graduation that she was neither famous nor had any dear companions to discuss. Toward the beginning of her stay at Claymore she gets to know various kindred patients and continues to develop nearer to a few, while all the while and incidentally developing more removed with others.
Another patient in Claymore Psychiatric Hospital is Lisa Rowe (played by Angelina Jolie), diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder or other termed it as sociopath. Antisocial Personality disorder is defined as a personality disorder characterized by a long term pattern of disregard for, or violation of the rights of others. An impoverished moral sense or conscience is often apparent, as well as a history of crime, legal problems, or impulsive and aggressive behavior. Her diagnosis was described in her file as: highs and lows, increasingly severe, controlling relationships with patient, no appreciable response to medications, and no remission. As seen throughout the film, Lisa Rowe is very manipulative, influencing everyone around her. She bullies them and influences other patient to avoid taking their medications and exchange it with the other patients. Moreover, Lisa is cold-hearted and insensitive; she doesn’t care for the feelings of others. Indeed, even in prohibition, Lisa communicates no regret for her awful conduct, proceeding to plot different escapes.
I also observed that most of the patients in McLean manifested schizophrenic symptoms. As an example, the uninterested watchers of the TV sit without reaction. Notwithstanding when Lisa covers the sofa with bathroom tissue, the catatonics stay still in their seats. The young lady who asserted to be an outsider’s better half, and also a glad penis proprietor, pillars fancies of loftiness, calling frozen yogurt profane names that all rhyme together which we termed as clang associations. Polly, left deformed with consumes after a suicide endeavor, is drained of feeling. Not cheerful, troubled, or disturbed, Polly’s passionate reactions demonstrate a flat affect. And Daisy, on the other hand, suffered from bulimia nervosa as uncovered in the scene where she is urgently requesting laxatives. Likewise with bulimics, she is bingeing food, a chicken from her fathers’ shop. She asserts that when she eats something else, she vomits. Additionally steady with the depiction of her diagnosis is the blame that takes after overeating, she exchanges her Valium for Susanna’s Laxatives.
For the treatment used in the movie, talking to a psychiatrist and daily medications are common or general among the patients. Just like in our duty in PGH psychiatric ward, they used bells to call the patients when it’s time for their medications and they all line up in the hallway while waiting for their turn. The nurse calls their name one by one and gives their medication. Before giving medication, the nurse explains what is that medication for which is important for the patient to know. Shock therapy or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was implied but not shown as Lisa cites it as a reason to escape the institution. At the beginning of the film, I noticed that art classes, expressive dance classes, and communicating with different patients were utilized. Also, patients were permitted contact with the outside world as found in their outing to the dessert parlor. Isolation was implemented for tricky patients as found in Lisa’s violence and Polly’s tantrum. Thorazine was a typical resort for those with profoundly unstable conduct, for example, the trembling Torey or Susanna, who encountered a scene of extraordinary unsettling after scratching her hand. Feeling heavier than regular, the patients would quiet down and their agitation would stop. Other antipsychotic drugs, for example, Stelazine and Mellaril, appeared to quiet down those with schizophrenia, in spite of the fact that they developed more drowsiness, as prove by Polly’s method for strolling and the odd suspension of her hands. Times of drowsiness may have been impacted by benzodiazepines, for example, Librium and Valium. Laxatives were also given to Susanna.
Overall, the movie is highly recommended because it will teach us a lot of lessons about life, family, friendships and after watching this you will ask yourself if you are really normal. But, it is not recommended for children because it has sexual and violent content, foul languages and use of drugs and alcohol. On the good side, the movie compels us to comprehend the fear of dealing with psychological illness. It also has a couple of scenes which underline the integrity that accompanies forgiving. Girl, Interrupted is a film depicts not just the battle to understand her own particular behavior, it additionally offers understanding into the effect of others on our perspectives of ourselves, our practices and perspectives of the world. It is a decent film for understudies to see with a specific end goal to additionally comprehend the basic difficulties in the treatment of an immature patient who is endeavoring to pick up knowledge into their dysfunctional behavior, while likewise confronting the test of growing up. I like the ending of the movie because Susanna recovers when she realized to use the system instead of fighting it. And when she leaves the institution she narrates, “Crazy isn’t being broken or swallowing a dark secret, it is you and me, amplified. If you ever told a lie, and enjoyed it, and if you ever wished you could be a child forever.” The general portrayal of the psychological issue may confound the crowd and may lead them to confuse the gravity of dysfunctional behaviors and the challenging undertaking of treatment and recuperation. Likewise, the attractive depiction of a sociopath may have glamorized it for the viewers.