Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in an American psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The memoir chronicles her lived experience and how she developed the disorder through particular life circumstances rather than an innate, predetermined biological difference in brain chemistry. The intersection between female adolescence and mental illness creates newfound discourse on how social challenges amongst teen girls may prompt unhinged behavior. Susanna Kaysen opens up a conversation on how mental illness is generally perceived in society as a biological deficiency in brain chemicals, but could it be a natural response to societal pressure as a young teen? Is the commodification of mental health portraying a negative stereotype of mental health struggles that could be otherwise better addressed?
The memoir's title is a reference to the Johannes Vermeer painting Girl …
Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in an American psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The memoir chronicles her lived experience and how she developed the disorder through particular life circumstances rather than an innate, predetermined biological difference in brain chemistry. The intersection between female adolescence and mental illness creates newfound discourse on how social challenges amongst teen girls may prompt unhinged behavior. Susanna Kaysen opens up a conversation on how mental illness is generally perceived in society as a biological deficiency in brain chemicals, but could it be a natural response to societal pressure as a young teen? Is the commodification of mental health portraying a negative stereotype of mental health struggles that could be otherwise better addressed?
The memoir's title is a reference to the Johannes Vermeer painting Girl Interrupted at Her Music. Kaysen draws a parallel between the Vermeer painting and her own life by equating music interrupting the girl with the struggles of female adolescence interrupting healthy development. Both serving as an impediment to personal evolution, Kaysen draws on the painting as a source of inspiration for critical analysis of the female teenage experience.
While writing the novel Far Afield, Kaysen began to recall her almost two years at McLean Hospital. She obtained her file from the hospital with the help of a lawyer.A film adaptation of the memoir directed by James Mangold, and starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, was released in 1999.
Eigentlich fünf Sterne, ich fand den sparsamen Stil sehr elegant. Ich bin nur nicht mehr im richtigen Alter, um inneres Drama von 18-Jährigen fünf-Sterne-interessant zu finden. Das ist ungerecht, denn die meisten Themen im Buch sind altersunabhängig. Aber ist halt so, es hat mich nicht mehr so mitgerissen, wie es das bestimmt getan hätte, als ich 18 war (da war das Buch aber noch nicht erschienen).
An account of a truly inspiring part of the author's life.
Personally, for a person like me who has been questioning about my thoughts & my mental state time & again, this book definitely gives insights on the core topics, the ideas. Whilst everyone has a different story there are similarities. Quite a unique was of telling a story. Learned as much as I enjoyed it. Timeless in many ways.
Probably one of the best quotes from the book:
I can’t come up with reassuring answers to the terrible questions they raise.
Insightful & honest.
An account of a truly inspiring part of the author's life.
Personally, for a person like me who has been questioning about my thoughts & my mental state time & again, this book definitely gives insights on the core topics, the ideas. Whilst everyone has a different story there are similarities. Quite a unique was of telling a story. Learned as much as I enjoyed it. Timeless in many ways.
Probably one of the best quotes from the book:
I can’t come up with reassuring answers to the terrible questions they raise.
I liked this book. I could relate to the diagnosis of "Borderline Personality Disorder" because I HAVE Borderline Personality Disorder. I related to the diagnosis in this book, rather than with Susanna Kaysen. I felt that she had a valid reason to contrast and compare her situation with the diagnosis of her therapist. I don't condemn her for that. I know of my own struggle and I was COMPLETELY all those things. I was diagnosed when I was 17 (a point to be made about when the diagnosis is given, usually, in the late teens.) Susanna Kaysen really SHOULD have questioned the diagnosis, though more is known about it in the world of psychology today and even when the book was written. She had the right to question it because her struggle didn't seem as severe as mine and the fact that it isn't necessarily a chemical imbalance means that …
I liked this book. I could relate to the diagnosis of "Borderline Personality Disorder" because I HAVE Borderline Personality Disorder. I related to the diagnosis in this book, rather than with Susanna Kaysen. I felt that she had a valid reason to contrast and compare her situation with the diagnosis of her therapist. I don't condemn her for that. I know of my own struggle and I was COMPLETELY all those things. I was diagnosed when I was 17 (a point to be made about when the diagnosis is given, usually, in the late teens.) Susanna Kaysen really SHOULD have questioned the diagnosis, though more is known about it in the world of psychology today and even when the book was written. She had the right to question it because her struggle didn't seem as severe as mine and the fact that it isn't necessarily a chemical imbalance means that there are environmental factors that sort of trigger this kind of thing. I know what triggered mine and her life didn't seem as bad as mine did, or, for that matter, any of the Borderline's I knew. The movie was filmed in the Harrisburg State Hospital- I got there two weeks after it stopped filming. I was sent because I was in the throes of the illness. Susanna never seemed that bad off to be sent to a state hospital for two years, about as long as I stayed. Just as she said, crazy people line the walls of those places and her depiction is fantastic. But what I didn't like is how fast it moves; little background on her parents (a lot of times the disorder will be triggered by the emotional distance, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or vicious threats done by one or the other parent or both). I wanted to see more into her life before the hospital stay. I'm Borderline, have been for 13 years and I would have liked the book more if she gave me some history, as I know every Borderline has a history, whether they deny ever being one or not.
