Pages 150- 168

Susanna tells of how she hasd to hire a lawyer to get her records from McLean. This is ow she finds out that she has Borderline personality Disorder. She has some disagreements to this claim. She relates some aspects of the disorder to her life but there are also other aspects that are totally wrong and can realte to everyone. She tells of how many of the symptoms can be traced back to many girls her age such as promiscuity, and self damaging activities. Susanna tells about all fo the girls and where tey are now. georgina is out and living in Canbride, her and Susanna keep in touch. She is married. A few years later Susanna runs into Lisa in Harvard Square. She is much more reformed than she was while in the jospital. She has a young son now and cares for him very well. Susanna tels the brief story of her short affair with her high school English teacher. This seems ot be a part of her self damaging activities due to her disorder. Susanna ends the story with a short paragraph briefly stating that all people wish to be young, beautiful, and joyful to others.

1. In your opinon, does Susanna show obvious signs of Borderline personality Disorder?
2. How has Lisa changed?
3. Has Susanna changed since leaving the hospital?

Pages 131-150

Susannas 1 and a half years living arrangement with McLean is coming to an end. She is trying to figure out what to do when she is out. She becomes offended when her social woker tries to force her to become a dental assistant. Susanna doesn't want to be pressured into her future. She is also offended because Susanna tells her that she wants to e a writer and the social workercalls it a "nice hobby" (133). Susanna is let out of the hospital in 1968, at the age of 19 because she receives a marriage proprosal. Susanna meets her future husband at a play aorund Christmas time in Cambridge. Their relationship is not a romantic one and Susanna and him ultimately break up. Susanna says that "[She] wanted to be going on alone to [her] future" (136). Susanna gives a description of how a sane mind ans a psychotic one work differently. She describes how a psychopath would see a tiger rather than a bureau in a room. She discusses how analysts are writing about the mind while neuroscientists write about the brain. Susanna gives an excerpt from the DSM III that talks about Borderline Personality Disorder and what its symptoms, effects, and patterns are.

1. How well will Susanna do once she is out of McLean?
2. Why is Susanna so offended when the social worker tells her to be a dental assistant?
3. Does the description of Borderline Personality Disorder fit the description of Susannas issues?

Pages 104-131

Susanna has an abcess tooth. Valerie takes her to her dentist in Boston to get it removed. When Susanna wake sup form her surgery she is shocked by how fast time went by. She has no recollection of it because she was under anesthesia. She demands to know how much time it took for te surgery. Susanna demands that "[She's] lost some time and [she needs] to know how much. [She needs] to know"(109). A new girl comes to live in the hospital. Her name is Alice Calais. She was unintroduced to many modern products. The girls were fascinated by her. After about a month, Alica has a freakout. She begans yelling and throwing things around. Lisa goes into Alices room one day and sees that Alica nd her entire room are covered in her own feces. Susanna's Analyst, Melvin, dies. She attempts to analyze his id, ego, and superego. Susanna discusses how difficult it is to get a job and attempt to have a real life while living in the hospital. The address gives awaythe fact that they are institutionalized and this gievs the girls far less of a chance to get a job. She also tells of the negative reactions that they receive when they tell others where they live and that they were at McLean.

1. What does Susannas loss of time represent?
2. Why do you think Alice doesn't know of many modern products?
3. What reactions are received when the girls tell potential boss' that they stayed at McLean?

Pages 75-104

Susanna intoduces the head nurse, Valerie to us. She is well respected and admired by the girls. The girls see their therapists once a day. These sessions last only about 5-10 minutes. Susanna also introduces us to Mrs. McWeeney. She is the night nurse and all of the girls dislike her, she is shrill and rude. There are also interns that come and help at the hospital. The girls live vicariously through them because they are able to live the lives that they were denied. A hispanic girl named Torrey comes to live in the hospital. The girls become very fond of her and when she is told that her parents are coming up to take her home the girls protest it. Susanna also has a psychotic episode. She becomes obsessed with her hands. She attempts to bite through her hand to make sure that it is real. This causes her to be given a heave dosage of thorazine that tranquilizes her.

1. How do Valerie and Mrs. McWeeney affect the girls?
2. How do the girls live through the interns?
3. What does Susannas episode prove?

Pages 43-75

Susanna describes the layout of her wing of the hospital. She tells of the blackboard that names all of the girls and their locations, the seclusion rooms, and their own dormitories. Every week the girls go out to ice cream at a local parlor. They were told to behave as well as they could but some still chose to act out. They just wanty to behave as themselves because as they say "It was all [they] had-- the truth" (51). Susanna explains the routine of checks that go on in the hospital. The nurses routinely open the dorrs to the patients rooms and say "checks" as they scan the room for the people they are looking for. Another Lisa comes into the hospital. She is also a sociopath and falls under the wing of the original Lisa. She ecentually escapes and becomes a junkie. Susanna debates on how long it took her to be admitted into the hospital. The doctor claims that it took much longer than she believes.

1. What purpose does the blackboard in the wing serve?
2. How would yopu react if you were subjected to 5, 10, or 15 minute checks.
3. How did the girls react to the second Lisa, specifically the original Lisa?
4. Who do you believe in the theories of how long it took Susanna to be committed?

Pages 5-42

Suasanna is admitted into McLean Hospital after a 20 minute session with her psychiatrist. She is institutionized because she is depressed and suicidal. Susanna discusses what makes a person "insane". Susanna introduces the reader to the girls she is living with. These girls include Polly, Cynthia, Daisey, Lisa, and Georgina. Lisa continuously runs away. She is seen as the leader of the girls. Susanna has a visitor, Jim. He is a former friend of hers and they begin to date. We are also introduced to georginas boyfriend, a fellow inmate named Wade. The is also the first time we see Daisey. Daisey is a depressed aneorexic. She only comes for certain weeks thorughout the year. Susanna talks about her attempted suicide, which involved her swallowing pills and going out in the street.

1. Do you think Susanna needed to be admitted into McLean?
2. What disorder do you think she has?
3. Is it beneficial to the girls living in the hospital to have significant others in or outside of the hospital?
4. Does it seem like Susanna really wanted to kill ehrself? Or was she just reacting to all of her emotions inside?

Images

Susanna always dreamed of being a writer, this dream was fulfilled when she wrote this book on her life.


Susanna is very careless and would go on many shopping sprees, which is a part of boraderline personallity.


Susanna would sit in a butterfly chair and do wrist banging, this is when she would bang her wrist to make it become black and blue.


Susanna got her wisdom teeth taken at during her time spent at the hospital.


Susanna takes Thorazine to help her cope with borderline personality.


Susanna meets her husband at a Christmas play in Cambridge.


Lisa gets pregnant once she leaves the hospital.



Susanna gets married once she leaves the hospital.


Alice was put into a jail cell because she was so crazy. She wiped feces on the jail cell.


Valerie wore her hair in a tight braid that only Lisa could coaxed her from untieing it.


The supervisor is allowed to smoke, but Susanna is not allowed to. Also, patients are delegated to a certain amount of cigarettes a day, also only at certain times of day.


Cambridge Ma. is where "Girl Interrupted" takes place.


Suanna's hand that was involved in her most violent incident. She attempted to bite through her hand because she feared that it was not real.


The apartment that Dasiy's dad bought her for a Christmas present.


Susanna Kaysen, author and who this book is about.


Lisa, the sociopath.


Paitents go into a secluded room when they get out of control.


Susanna freaksout at the checkered floor of the ice cream shop.


The workers write where each paitent is on the blackboard.


Dasiy's father brings her cooked chickens that she keeps under her bed.

Links

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/persdisorders.html
-This website is a general psychology website on personality disorders. It explains what the Cluster A, B, and C consist of. It explains all the different types of disorders and the effects of each.


"http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1527890/psychological_analysis_of_girl_interrupted.html?cat=72"
-This website is a psychological analysis of the book we are reading. It explains the main character and her disorder. It also explains the other characters and what they have also.

"http://www.queendom.com/advices/advice.htm?advice=283"
-This website is a girl asking a question about how her dad is a borderline sociopath. It is a therapy help website and people can ask questions and the health professionals answer. It is powered by Psychology Today.


http://www.mcleanhospital.org/
- This is the direct website to the McLean Hospital website. It has information about the patient care and education of the hospital. The girls in the book live in the McLean Hospital in Cambridge.

http://borderlinepersonality.ca/ginterrupt.htm
- This is a website for a review of the movie, Girl Interrupted. The book was made into a movie and this reviews both the movie and the book.

http://similarminds.com/cgi-bin/newpd.pl
- This is a website where you take a personality test to see how you really feel about life and yourself. Many people who have been in a institution have taken tests such as these.

http://www.psyke.org/bookstore/biography/
-This website is a biography on the author and her four books, Skin Game, Prozac Nation, Wasted, Girl, Interrupted.

http://www.exploringwomanhood.com/interviews/kaysen.htm
This is a written interview of the author, Susanna Kaysen, and exploring womanhood.com

http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html
This is a website where it outlines the profile of a sociopath. It has the DSM-IV definition and overview of the disorder.

http://sociopathx.com/
-This website describes the relationships, traits, symptoms, and etc of a sociopath.

http://www.mediacircus.net/girlinterrupted.html
- This website is another movie review of Girl Interrupted, but it also compares the novel to another novel we read in class, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/000839.html
- This is a list of the top 10 psychiatric mental hospitals, mcLean being number 4.

http://www.besthealthmag.ca/embrace-life/mental-health/quiz-are-you-happy
-This website is a happy quiz, the girls sometimes would take tests like this.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/mental_health/cutting.html
- This is website is about teens who cut their wrists and how they can be helped.

http://www.medicinenet.com/anorexia_nervosa/article.htm
-This website is about anorexia and its causes. Many of the girls have anorexia in the novel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0hecDCmY0
-This is a real girl's story of her life and suffering borderline personality disorder.

http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Have-Borderline-Personality-Disorder/1960
- This is a support group website for people with borderline personality disorder, people discuss their stories and experiences.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Self-Injury/forum/4698338-wrist-banging-may-trigger
-This website is about wrist banging, this is another version of cutting your wrists except banging. Susanna does this in the novel.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Borderline-Personality-Disorder/Effects-on-Children-When-Untreated-Mother-Has-Disorder/show/505283
-This website is about the effects of children who's mother has untreated borderline personality disorder. Although she was treated and had a child, this is for people who were untreated.

http://unputdownables.net/2011/04/11/girl-interrupted-by-susanna-kaysen/
-This is another overview of the author and her book. IT discusses the novel and the movie.