Girl, Interrupted Analytical

In the novel, A World According to Garp, John Irving describes Garp as someone who passionately loathes psychiatrists, whom he believes are “…dangerous simplifiers,” and, “… thieves of a person’s complexity,” (Irving, 179). This belief holds true in Girl, Interrupted, a memoir written by Susanna Kaysen, a seven-year patient at McLean hospital. After her failed suicide attempt, she is recommended to the hospital by a doctor, who epitomizes Garp’s description of psychiatrists. Even after Kaysen leaves McLean, she is still haunted by the same simplifiers that her doctor’s used to diagnose her with in the first place. Kaysen uses personal experiences from before and after her time at McLean to illustrate her doctors’ inclination to generalize and simplify patients’ conditions, regardless of whether or not they are actually sick.

Kaysen’s first and only encounter with the doctor that diagnosed her exemplifies doctor’s tendency to over-analyze, when he first makes her go to McLean. At first glance, the doctor jumps to conclusions about Kaysen’s love life based on her pimple. Although Kaysen does not believe that the pimple has anything to do with her boyfriend, she agrees with him, stating that, “He was going to keep talking about it until I agreed with him, so I nodded” (7). On top of this, he assumes that her sleepy persona is directly related to her supposed sickness, when really, she is just exhausted from the fact that she had to get up early for her long trip to the doctor’s. What is also troubling about his diagnosis of her is that he seems “pleased with himself,” after he makes arrangements for her to stay at McLean hospital, as if each person he admits to the hospital solidifies his status. Overall, he feels he has done his job well by the mere fact that he was able to find Kaysen’s problems and hospitalize her for them. His generalizations about her health do not explain her current mental state, nor do they explain her suicide

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