Susan Kaysen's autobiographical novel "Girl, Interrupted", is a story based on her struggles with a personality disorder and her time spent in the women's psychiatric ward at McLean Hospital. According to Myers (2007), a personality disorder is "a psychological disorder characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning" (p.677). Susan was hospitalized for two years, and met many others with psychological disorders such as Lisa, Daisy, and Georgina. .
Upon arriving at the hospital, Meyers meets Daisy - a girl obsessed with laxatives and chicken. Daisy was bulimic, which Myers defines as (2007) "an eating disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually of high calorie foods, followed by vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise" (p.478). Daisy exemplifies the symptoms of bulimia by eating excessive amounts of chicken and following up the binge by taking laxatives. After she leaves the hospital, they later learn that Daisy committed suicide. .
After hearing of Daisy's death, Susana shares her thoughts about her own suicide attempts. She proceeds to talk about the hospital staff's daily "check" system, where the nurses check on the patients in intervals determined by the severity of their illness. She also describes the rare field trips, and the system that the nurses follow in maintaining security during those trips. Then, another patient arrives: Lisa Cody. The current Lisa torments the new Lisa until she is driven further into insanity and leaves that ward and ultimately, McLean Hospital. After the new Lisa leaves, Susana thinks about how she ended up in the hospital, and how she believes mental illnesses develop. The next subject that she talks about is the head nurse Valerie. All of the residents like her because she stands up to the doctors, but they hate the night nurse, Mrs. McWeeney. .
One day, Lisa tries to escape and gets caught, again.
