Girl, Interrupted

Use this activity to engage all types of learners while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Perspective of a Young Nurse”

In this activity, students will write Kaysen’s story from the perspective of one of the student nurses Kaysen befriends while she is a patient at McLean Hospital.

While at McLean Hospital, Kaysen encounters a variety of nurses and doctors. She and the other patients grow particularly fond of the student nurses in charge of their care, noting that their younger age helps them to better understand the patients and that their friendship works better than therapy.

Taking into account Kaysen’s theory that the generation gap plays a significant role in the ways she and other patients are (mis)treated and (mis)understood by older doctors and nurses, write a brief account of Kaysen’s story from the perspective of a student nurse. Consider the culture of the 1960s in the United States as you address the following questions in your analysis:

• What are some common fears that adults hold about youth during this era?
• How do adults misunderstand teenagers at this time, and what role does this play in the ways teen mental health issues are addressed?
• How do the older nurses and the younger nurses differ in their approaches to the teenage patients at McLean?
• How might a shared understanding between younger nurses and their teenage patients lead to better mental health outcomes than traditional treatments at the time?