Girl, Interrupted

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1993

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-30

Chapters 31-34

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Perceptions of Mental Health

A major theme of Kaysen’s work is how mental health and illness is defined and perceived by the medical profession and the public. She explores the medical definition of her diagnosis, Borderline Personality Disorder, to show how subjective its symptoms can be. Kaysen interrogates the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders definition of Borderline Personality Disorder, calling it a “generalization” rather than a specific case study (136). She points out that while she is considered recovered from that condition, she still has the first symptom, which is “uncertainty about several life issues” (136), a vague description that is impossible to quantify. Kaysen notes that the symptom “Instability of image, interpersonal relationships, and mood” as well as problems choosing careers or long-term goals is very typical of most teenagers—the time of her life in which she was diagnosed (138). By pointing out the impressionistic nature of this disorder’s symptoms, Kaysen reveals that her diagnosis was the result of personal judgements made by a physician. She exposes the debate within the medical community about these definitions by quoting a psychiatrist who told her that the disorder is simply something doctors “call people whose lifestyles bother them” (137).

Regardless of which diagnosis McLean’s patients received, Kaysen argues that, due to the stigma surrounding mental illness, all patients experienced discrimination when they tried to reintegrate back into society. She notes that the McLean Hospital address was well-known throughout Boston, and that using it prompted negative responses from potential employers and apartment rentals due to their bias against mental health patients. Kaysen feels that all of McLean’s patients were considered “tainted” by the outer world, and that telling people about her experience at McLean often prompted a fearful or repulsed response from the public. She describes these biases and reactions to show why she has also developed a “revulsion” for people she considers mentally ill and avoids their company (117).

Personality and Self-Image

Kaysen explores how personalities and self-image can be perceived as disordered by modern medicine and how, in turn, being diagnosed with a disorder can influence a person’s actions and view of themselves. She reveals that she had repeated negative thought patterns about herself, which she refers to as “a Muzak medley of self-hatred themes” (74). This self-loathing motivated her suicide attempt, which she explains was an effort to “get rid of a certain aspect of my character” (43). This, in part, is what caused Kaysen to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. When she receives her diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder from the medical professionals at McLean, she at first feels that her illness isn’t “as serious” as others such as schizophrenia or sociopathy (61).

Kaysen’s diagnosis causes her self-image to suffer even more as she begins to conceive of her character “as a plate or shirt that had been manufactured incorrectly and was therefore useless” (61). Kaysen’s self-esteem is boosted when her therapist tells her he thinks that her personality is “fairly well integrated,” and provides validation which she “craved” (110). Even after the staff at McLean pronounced Kaysen ‘recovered’ from her Borderline Personality disorder, her diagnosis continued to prompt self-doubt about the integrity of her character. For example, as an adult, her boyfriend criticizes her personality traits, and she is reminded of her diagnosis. Kaysen builds on these reflections to question why some mental illnesses like Borderline Personality Disorder are perceived as affecting the “mind”, while others like schizophrenia are considered brain based. She points out that the concept of a mind or character is very abstract, and that thoughts and behaviors are also produced by the brain. By delving into her own changing self-image and the way it was informed by her diagnosis, Kaysen argues that people’s personalities and self-image are brain based and fluid and can be negatively affected by medical labels.

Gender and Sexism

Throughout her memoir, Kaysen investigates how her gender informed authority figures’ perceptions and treatments of her as a teenager. Coming of age in the late 1960s, Kaysen experienced the double standards for women in professional settings. She remembers briefly working as a typist for the billing office of Harvard University, where men and women had different roles; women were employed in lower positions and were not permitted to smoke or wear miniskirts, both of which caused problems for Kaysen. She remembers, “I looked around the room. All typists were women; all supervisors were men. All supervisors were smoking, all typists were not” (120). Kaysen’s inability to cope in this unfair environment even caused her to question her sanity. She shares, “I was the only person who had trouble with the rules. Everybody else accepted them. Was this a mark of my madness? [...] Sexism! It was pure sexism, isn’t that the answer?” (121).

Kaysen is briefly examined by a male doctor who sends her to McLean hospital. She wonders if he did so due to a paternalistic desire to protect her from the “mean world” of 1960s America (43). The doctor is also domineering in how he persuades Kaysen to get into a taxi and sign herself into McLean. She writes, “‘Forget it,’ he said. ‘You aren’t going to lunch. You’re going to the hospital.’ Keeping hold of my arm, he opened the back door of the taxi and pushed me in” (16). She also laments his lack of honesty about how long she would stay there, writing, “He tricked me, though: a couple of weeks. It was closer to two years” (43).

Kaysen also relates how her marital status affected her stay at McLean. She felt ready to leave the hospital, but because her profession of choice was writing, her social worker did not support her wishes. Her writing was seen only as a hobby, and that Kaysen would be unsuccessful. However, receiving a proposal from her boyfriend guaranteed Kaysen her freedom, as she remembers, “Luckily, I got a marriage proposal and they let me out. In 1968, everybody could understand a marriage proposal” (26). These experiences reveal that Kaysen felt pressured to conform to gender norms and accept demeaning and sexist treatment from authority figures in her life.