Usually a hospitals policy is that the doctors, nurses and patients obey a rule of having a professional relationship rather then becoming friends. At Susanna's hospitals this is not the case.
The nurses become very friendly with the patients and they talk to them about their problems.
An example from the book Page 91
"They loved to talk to us. We asked them about movies they have seenand how they 'd done on their exams
and when they'd get married. . ."
My guess is that the relationship these patients had with the staff must help their anxiety of being in a hospita where they are coped up all day. I can not imagine how lonely it must be to see the same people every day and see the same walls every day. It would be enough to drive me insane.
I am guessing evern today people in hospitals maintain relationships with the people that they help treat. There are many shows on that concept, like House, Greys Anatomy and General Hospital. I believe this idea proves to the patients that the nurse are not made of stone and have no heart. It proves that they had a personality and are not afarid to show it to a bunch of "lunies" as Susanna would call her and the other patients.
Allison O'Hagan
Role: Researcher
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Hospital or Heaven?
On pages 94-95 I found how Susanna and the rest of the patients described the hospital as more of a refuge then a mental institution.
Susanna says that it was an escape from the requirements of every day life. Meaning that they did not have to go to work, school, they did not have to pay bills that most adults had to at that age. Their lives and actions were basically handled by the nurses which the patients did not seem to mind that much.
During that time Susanna said that the average rate for a room in a hospital like that was $60 a day for just the room. That money today could be used to buy a nice 3 star hotel room! The parents of these patients have shelled out alot of money in order to pay just in the hopes that their daughters would be taken care of and hopefully cured.
I personally would not have been able to survive in a place like that. I need to be outdoors. I am not one to be locked up in a cage. What caused Susanna to call a place like this great I will never know.
Allison OHagan
Role:Researcher
Susanna says that it was an escape from the requirements of every day life. Meaning that they did not have to go to work, school, they did not have to pay bills that most adults had to at that age. Their lives and actions were basically handled by the nurses which the patients did not seem to mind that much.
During that time Susanna said that the average rate for a room in a hospital like that was $60 a day for just the room. That money today could be used to buy a nice 3 star hotel room! The parents of these patients have shelled out alot of money in order to pay just in the hopes that their daughters would be taken care of and hopefully cured.
I personally would not have been able to survive in a place like that. I need to be outdoors. I am not one to be locked up in a cage. What caused Susanna to call a place like this great I will never know.
Allison OHagan
Role:Researcher
Getting It Straight About Borderline Personality
In this book Susanna is diagnosed with a disorder called "Borderline Personality."
Since in the book Susanna does not really describe what her "illness is , I thought I would do research on it so we can have a better idea of what it is.
Research taken from http://www.nimh.nih.gov
"Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior."
This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individuals sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation. While less well known than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women.1 There is a high rate of self-injury without suicide intent, as well as a significant rate of suicide attempts and completed suicide in severe cases."
Overall I think this mental illness is really just a mental issue where the person has difficulty dealing with their image. I believed this disorder kind of relates to teenage life today. Experts always say that the teenage years are the most difficult of your life. Your are faced with many choices as to what you want to do and who you want to become.
I also found it interesting how it says "BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults mostly young women"
I wondered if this is the reason why so many girls today deal with things like anorexia, bulimia, hurting themselves (such as cutting) and even teen suicide.
If you remember in our class discussions how we said how we believed Susanna was maybe having difficulty dealing with the fact that she was now all grown up and not wanting to take on adult responsibilities. We also said how maybe she was insecure about her personality and appearance.
Whats do you think?
Allison OHagan
Role:Researcher
Since in the book Susanna does not really describe what her "illness is , I thought I would do research on it so we can have a better idea of what it is.
Research taken from http://www.nimh.nih.gov
"Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior."
This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individuals sense of self-identity. Originally thought to be at the "borderline" of psychosis, people with BPD suffer from a disorder of emotion regulation. While less well known than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults, mostly young women.1 There is a high rate of self-injury without suicide intent, as well as a significant rate of suicide attempts and completed suicide in severe cases."
Overall I think this mental illness is really just a mental issue where the person has difficulty dealing with their image. I believed this disorder kind of relates to teenage life today. Experts always say that the teenage years are the most difficult of your life. Your are faced with many choices as to what you want to do and who you want to become.
I also found it interesting how it says "BPD is more common, affecting 2 percent of adults mostly young women"
I wondered if this is the reason why so many girls today deal with things like anorexia, bulimia, hurting themselves (such as cutting) and even teen suicide.
If you remember in our class discussions how we said how we believed Susanna was maybe having difficulty dealing with the fact that she was now all grown up and not wanting to take on adult responsibilities. We also said how maybe she was insecure about her personality and appearance.
Whats do you think?
Allison OHagan
Role:Researcher
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
I thought since we are reading a book a female patient in a mental hospital I thought I would research abotu society's attitude toward female mental patinets.
Heres a passage I found that describes society outlook on female mental patients in the Victorian Age, which I think connects to women in the 1960s
"Women during this time were deemed to be highly susceptible to becoming mentally ill as they did not have the mental capacity of men, and this risk grew greatly if the woman attempted to better herself through education or too many activities. In fact, women were seen as most likely having a mental breakdown sometime during their life as "the maintenance of [female] sanity was seen as the preservation of brain stability in the face of overwhelming physical odds" (Ussher 74). Thus, women often suppressed their feelings, as to not appear mad and reassumed the passive, housewife role."
)Taken from:http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/madness.shtml#attitudes)
I found this quote to be sexist in a way where society back then believed that women were somewhat more prone to being reguarded as mental unstable. When in reality I find that something like having a mental disorder isnt biased and is more based on the person themselves then their sex.
I also found some reason why women back then would have put in a hospital:
-Hysteria (madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and the menopause)
-Anorexia
-Nymphomania (irresistible desire for sexual intercourse)
-Spinsters and Lesbians
I found it interesting how lesbians were put into mental hospital when today in 2010, many people are for "gay or lesbian" marriage between two people of the same sex.
What do you guys think?
Posted By: Allison OHagan
Heres a passage I found that describes society outlook on female mental patients in the Victorian Age, which I think connects to women in the 1960s
"Women during this time were deemed to be highly susceptible to becoming mentally ill as they did not have the mental capacity of men, and this risk grew greatly if the woman attempted to better herself through education or too many activities. In fact, women were seen as most likely having a mental breakdown sometime during their life as "the maintenance of [female] sanity was seen as the preservation of brain stability in the face of overwhelming physical odds" (Ussher 74). Thus, women often suppressed their feelings, as to not appear mad and reassumed the passive, housewife role."
)Taken from:http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/madness.shtml#attitudes)
I found this quote to be sexist in a way where society back then believed that women were somewhat more prone to being reguarded as mental unstable. When in reality I find that something like having a mental disorder isnt biased and is more based on the person themselves then their sex.
I also found some reason why women back then would have put in a hospital:
-Hysteria (madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and the menopause)
-Anorexia
-Nymphomania (irresistible desire for sexual intercourse)
-Spinsters and Lesbians
I found it interesting how lesbians were put into mental hospital when today in 2010, many people are for "gay or lesbian" marriage between two people of the same sex.
What do you guys think?
Posted By: Allison OHagan
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