It's 1967, and 18 year old Susanna Kaysen is like a lot of American teenagers her age-confused, insecure, and lost within a rapidly changing world. After a half-hearted suicide attempt, she goes to a psychiatrist who quickly diagnoses her with Borderline Personality Disorder, and whisks her away to McLean Hospital. The next year and nine months would change her life forever.

When Susana arrives at McLean, she is immediately introduced to a completely different lifestyle. A regimented daily schedule complete with "checks" and security screened in windows became a reality. If she showed signs of improvement and good behavior, she would be able to walk to the opposite side of the building without a nurse following her around. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of her new life was the women she met. Here, Susanna meets an eclectic group of troubled young women who not only become her closest friends, but also light Susanna's way back to someone she had lost-herself. Susanna's roommate, Georgina was a timid pathological liar. Polly, who as a young girl was burnt severely when she set herself on fire, had low self-esteem but a heart of gold. Daisy had an eating disor

Slowly Susanna began to learn from her fellow patients. At first, she is angry and antisocial, and gravitates naturally towards Lisa. Eventually, however, she learns that Lisa's cruel streak has a vicious edge in which she doesn't want to associate. So she concentrates on making a conscious effort to rehabilitate. Not only does Lisa aid in Susanna's turn around, but there is also one nurse in particular that has an enormous impact. Valerie is a one-of-a-kind nurse who has the patient's best interests truly at heart. She is stern and doesn't respond to anyone's outbursts. While she may not be the most entertaining, she has a significant impact on her patients. As Susanna partakes on a life-altering nearly two-year journey through group ice-cream trips, late night chats in the "TV room," and fifteen-minute "checks," she discovers her lost self and manages to restart a fairly normal life.

Chronic feelings of emptiness, criterion number seven, was a definite for Susanna. She felt that she was living her life based on her "incapacities." Basically, she didn't want to and felt she couldn't do pretty much anything. She liked boys and poetry, nothing more. School was a waste of her time. She didn't really have any friends. She didn't think she fit in anywhere. "I saw myself, quite correctly, as unfit for the educational and social systems (Kaysen, 1993, 154)." All of these feelings led her to more than "emptiness and boredom." She sums this whole idea up beautifully in one statement: "Emptiness and boredom: what an understatement. What I felt was complete desolation. Desolation, despair, and depression (Kaysen, 1993, 157)." No wonder she was suffering!

5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1542
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)