Essay on Perceptions of Mental Illness in Girl Interrupted

The portrayal of people being sickly creatures has been used in Hollywood film for a very long time. This has been in the endeavor of putting the viewing public in the shoes of the patient and entertain them with over the top portrayals of disease. For patients that are women in particular this has been achieved by defining them along the lines of vague terms such as them being over emotional and unstable. Despite the advancement experienced by the society, women have not yet fully seen the goal of equality realize fruition. With the expansion of the psychiatric and psychological terminologies, there now additional ways via which mental illness can be ascribed as a weakness for men and women portrayed in Hollywood film. This is best†¦show more content†¦Simply, it leaves a bad impression of sorts. The film is based on a rich memoir by Susanna Kaysen. It depicts the suffering of a fictional character referred to as Susanna. The film does not primarily give focus on true hospi tal course during the recovery process of the fictional character. Much of the focus is on the characters recovering without the aid of the hospital or staff. It is depicted as a road of self discovery and not very realistic for the conditions ascribed the characters. Recovery of an individual suffering from a mental ailment takes time and proper guidance coupled with proper coordination of counseling, medications and familial support. As such, the film provides a decent exploration of mental illness but not realistic. Though in my opinion it does portray the little resources available to women during the day in age depicted the effectiveness of the society’s mental health care system. There are some key, unique approaches to mental illness that have been inculcated into the theme of the film. One of these, and most probably the most potent, is the issue of questioning the true existence of mental illness. On repeated occasions, Susanna questions the true validity of her diag nosis. Even at the end of the film, she still questions the effectiveness of her treatmentShow MoreRelatedThe Lines Between Sanity And Insanity1064 Words   |  5 Pagescommonly tested in young adult literature. Shown to be entirely based on individual perception, sanity or insanity attempt to form a reflection of the characters’ personalities. In society, as shown in the novels, people are often too quick to write off nonconformist as crazy or insane. Girl, Interrupted and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest both illustrate how society’s stern view cause them to treat mental illness unethically and take away from individualism. Minds may be altered through prescribedRead MoreBasic Theories and Techniques of Abnormal Psychology1743 Words   |  7 Pagesaffects the behavior of a person, as opposed to the difference between normal and abnormal behavior. 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