Borderline Personality Disorder in Girl Interrupted
Girl Interrupted is a movie based on Susanna Kaysen’s novel, which was inspired by her stay in a mental institution in the 1960s. Incidentally the main character, played by Winona Ryder, is named Susanna. She is eighteen years old and begins the movie by reflecting back on the events leading up to her visit to the psychologist. She has just graduated from high school and other than being an aspiring writer, has no plans for her life. In addition she has flashbacks of her attempted suicide, though she denies taking a bottle of aspirin with vodka. When she was brought to the hospital they found bruises on her wrist, but she claimed she had When she is not around the type of intimacy she utterly wants, she develops a very close relationship with Lisa, who is a patient of the mental institution. This strong desire to always be in a relationship is another prime symptom of this particular personality disorder. The reason for her development of her disorder was caused in early childhood. Both of Susanna’s parents were more focused on leading the perfect suburban life, and paid little attention to her. Thus from such neglect, they never realized that she was being sexual abused by their neighbor, who occasionally babysat her when her parents were out. Susanna began her troubles because she began to become unable to differentiate what was correct and what was not, further leading her to have the inability to distinguish right from wrong. She had no one to turn to and helping her develop is a crucial stage, according to Kernberg. In conclusion, Otto Kernberg’s theory of the two crucial developmental factors in childhood and the consequences of failing such tasks, appear to be appropriate theories behind the onset of Susanna’s borderline personality disorder. Although this theory has its limitations because it is not always necessary that this particular disorder is developed in early childhood. There are various theories looking into the biological factors that could predetermine whether someone will develop this disorder. In addition, there is always the question as to
