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(Comment from movie trailer: “or was it just the
60’s…”)
Was Susanna “just rebellious” or mentally ill.
(“Cloud that passed through her life.”)
Did she belong in psychiatric treatment?
“Just
normal people who follow their impulses…” A. Jolie
From book:
This person is (pick one);
1. on
a perilous journey from which we can learn much when her or she returns
2. possessed
by (pick one)
a) the
gods
b) God
(that is, a prophet)
c) Some
bad spirits, demons, or devils
d) The
devil
3. A
witch
4. Bewitched
(variant of 2)
5. Bad
and must be isolated and punished
6. Ill,
and must be isolated and treated by (pick one)
a) purging
and leeches
b) removing
the uterus if the person has one
c) electric
shock to the brain
d) cold
sheets wrapped tight around the body
e) Thorazine
or Stelazine
7. Ill,
and must spend the next seven years talking about it
8. A
victim of society’s low tolerance for deviant behavior
9. Sane
in an insane world
10. On
a perilous journey from which he or she
may never return.
Think for a moment as the film begins: What
criteria would you be looking for you to decide either:
She
should be required to go to the hospital, or
It
would be best for her to go, voluntarily
Also, consider this question regarding the other
characters (compare & contrast)
She signed herself in; arrived in a cab, rejected
the opportunity to run off with boyfriend.
Ultimately, she makes her own decision.
“I tried to kill myself.” Boyfriend…
everyone thinks about suicide. How
would he do it? “I don’t know… I guess
I really haven’t thought about it.”
(Difference between thinking about it as abstract exercise and planning
it)
2 Questions: Who should we require to
hospitalized/medicated?
Who should we allow to be
hospitalized/medicated?
Listening
to Prozac
Some
maintaining dependency, perhaps, rather
than working for independence
Adolescents often are
confused about the difference
“I just don’t want to end up with [like?]my
mother.”
Explore “family cut-off”; In book, & some
deleted scenes, extensive discussion of scapegoating ; Family may need to get
stronger to take someone back, to accept the challenge to the whole family
system.
Parents often have the power to define children as
the problem, even if there are problems on both sides.
Although
it may be unjust, if is still a challenge the patient needs to learn to adapt
to, paralleling other authority issues they will face. It’s not just adapting to the power others
have, but adapting to a world which will not always submit to your will, and
won’t always meet your expectations. A
person who can’t tolerate that the world doesn’t always operate they way they
think it should, will be in constant distress and conflict.
[My observation: time disturbances, such as precognitive dreams, do not seem rare among adolescents. It becomes a problem when someone because fixated on it instead of learning how to simply “do a reality check” or dismiss it.]
Her
discussion—Borderline Personality Disorder
“20 minute interview with psychiatrist.”
(Psychiatrist reported 3 hours)
Commitment papers: “depressed… attempted suicide…
patternless of life… promiscuous, not pregnant. Suicidal” [Copy of papers in book: “needed McLean for 3 yrs. Profoundly depressed-suicidal. Increasing patternless of life, promiscuous
might kill self or get pregnant. Former
ther. 3 yyrs…-she doesn’t want to return.
RAN AWAY FROM HM 4 MOS AGO.
Living in boarding house in Camb.
Desperate. ..father Director of
Institute for Advanced Studies—Princeton.
Report of psychiatrist 4/27/67…3 hour exam. Referral based on “: chaotic unplanned life… progressive
decompensation and reversal of sleep cycle… severe depression and hopelessness
and suicidal ideas… history of suicidal attempts… no therapy and no plan
present. Immersion in fantasy,
progressive withdrawal and isolation
(No “Borderline Personality Disorder” in DSM-II
(5/68) in 1969. “Borderline Psychosis” was a current term,
not related to personality disorder.)
Her chart shows “Psychoneurotic depressive
reaction; Highly intelligent but in denial of her condition; personality
pattern disturbance, resistant, mixed type, R/O undifferentiated
schizophrenia. Established diagnosis:
Borderline Personality Disorder.”
PTSD?
“If you have no secret…. You’re a lifer like
me.” Lisa
Director compares her disorientation with Billy
Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse 5. !!!!!!!
Borderline diagnosis is usually associated with
childhood abuse, typically sexual abuse.
This could also be a trauma related to the abusive incident.
Promiscuity: Issue not necessarily frequency of
sex or number of partners, but may relate to sense of choice: Date rape?
Rape?
“Sexualized” result of childhood sexual abuse? She had an affair
with college professor at about 16 or 17; earlier? (In book: Watson/Crick wanting to take her away in sports car)
Use of flashback technique in movie (others cut);
In book, she emphasizes troubles in experience/accounting for time.
Deleted scenes (First cut over 3 hours long)
Seeing
herself coming home in cab, seeing Lisa
Seeing
outline of hand in shadows on walls;
hallucinating “melting hand” before taking aspirin
“Ruby” burnt into Lisa’s
arm.
Vermier painting: “Girl
Interrupted at her music.”
Hallucinating blood at
meat section
Director had “Wizard of Oz” in mind when
structuring movie.
“She’s [Lisa] a sociopath…” AJ