Girl, Interrupted is a short memoir focusing on the nearly two years Susanna Kaysen spent in a psychiatric hospital. Kaysen is initially admitted by a new doctor for a “break” but her stay turns into something more permanent and she is eventually diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. While her story seems almost unbelievable at times, as well as a gross misuse of power by her doctors and parents, she posts her medical charts as evidence to her tenure at McLean Hospital. It has been several years since I have […]
“Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60’s. Or maybe I was just a girl… interrupted.”
I have seen the movie Girl, Interrupted once or twice, although it’s been a while. From my vague memories, however, it seems like they adapted the book pretty closely — with maybe some fleshing out/embellishments. The characters I remember, and even some of the lines, exist fully in this short book. Whether or not you’ve seen the movie, I definitely recommend reading this one. “Actually, it was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself, that dragged me into […]
So much better than the film
When Susanna Kaysen was 18, she went to see a new psychiatrist for a conversation after what appears to have been a suicide attempt. She swallowed a large amount of sleeping pills, then regretted her decision and wandered out into the street to get help. The psychiatrist claimed to have spoken to and evaluated Ms. Kaysen for more than three hours, Ms. Kaysen herself claims the meeting was barely half an hour. The end result was nonetheless that she ended up committed to McLean Hospital, […]