Statement of progress

At the beginning i wasn't so sure what my topic would be exactly, i had an idea but it was a really wide topic, so i began to narrow it down and only stuck to some things rather than my original plan to cover everything.
I began with what i knew the most about which was Catcher in the rye, and i did a diary entry, since my mind was still fresh from the things we had done earlier in class like the journal entries and the song project, so i stuck to what i knew the most first.
Later in thought i was having trouble picking genres or what i exactly wanted to do so i had a conference, i had a few things in mind, but after the conference i was more convinced in my choices and i was able to be sure of my genres.
Some books i used were The catcher in the rye, The bluest eye and girl, interrupted and i also read The disappearing girl by Dr.Lisa Machoian, which helped me understand mental illness a lot more and even though its main focus was girls with mental illness, it was still able to help me out, mostly for the genre i did for Holdens conversation with the psychologist, since in the book she had a dialogue with a former patient and i was able to see how psychologist react to a patients confessions and how they go about things.

As time went on i thought i had time to finish everything in time, but i didn't and my laziness took over, but now i know what it takes and i will know and be wise and prepared for next time.

Although i might have rushed a little, this project was a lot of fun and i enjoyed it as well as learned many things from it.

Bibliography

All Psych online, History of psychology ( 387 BC to present ), august 19, 2003
http://allpsych.com/timeline.html


Medical Prescription Drugs Image Generator 2009
http://161.58.20.24/signs/sign-generator/?parody=Doctor+Signed+Prescriptions&text=++Your+Name%0D%0A%0D%0A++500X30MG+Zanex%0D%0A%0D%0AFor+relief+of+stress%0D%0Acaused+at+work+place.%0D%0A%0D%0A+Take+1+pill+hourly.&font=HandItalic&color=blue&fontsize=17&move2=48&move=80&rot=-2&pic=Medical-Prescription-Drugs&offx=5&offy=5&spacing=35&tag=left&shade=no

Petri Liukkonen, Books and writers, 2008, J(erome D(avid) Salinger (1919-)
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/salinger.htm


Machoian Lisa, The disappearing girl. New york: Penguin Group, april 2005, pages 68-75

Salinger, Jerome David. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1951.

Kaysen Susana, Girl, interrupted. New York: Turtle Bay Books,1993

Diary entry of a patient.

dear diary,

Yesterday was the worst day of my life, as if the humiliation of being in here wasn't enough, They dropped a bomb on me. They told me if i didn't get better in four weeks that my visit would have to be extended to six weeks and it was only my first day here and i wasn't going to let that happen.
Everyone in here scares me, i would say I'm the most normal out of everyone, even the nurses scare me. Ive never seen so many eyes desperate for freedom and sunshine, even a day to my visit i can feel my eyes slowly beg for the same. my welcoming made things worse, usually i can make at least one friend but here everyone made it quite clear they are not interested, and as for my friends back home, they never called, no e-mails, no messages. I never expected any, i only wished, but everyone knows wishes don't come true, you have to fight for them, maybe i need to fight harder. I wanted a chance to give an apology, to apologize for being the crazy friend, and i would also want to clear my name of all the accusations, but i guess that's what i am here for.
Another "highlight" of my day was my roommates friend, she cough me in the halls, and stared at me blankly for seconds, i felt awkward and when i couldn't bare her eyes stinging mine i shifted to the left to keep walking down the hall when she suddenly let out a scream. not the usual, i saw a bug scream, she let out a piercing scream, and it startled everyone as they came running to see what was happening, but it had haunted me. She screamed but there were a million words she was saying, i could tell. Men in white suits soon came to get her, and she looked as if she was going to brake if they pulled her any harder, she didn't want to be taken away. The nurses followed after, when the shouting ended, you could hear her slowly cry and beg for her mom. I wanted to go and keep her company,but they told me that i would be breaking the rules, and reminded me that it could make me stay here for an additional two weeks, so i went to my room and tried to get my mind of things, but that didn't help.
There is a strict schedule here, if you don't follow it, you are punished, the same goes for the rules. I am obligated to wake up at 7 am, after 7:40 no one is allowed back into the showers.
at 9 am we have to be in the cafeteria for breakfast, soon after that we go to our afternoon classes, at 12:30 we must report to the cafeteria once again to eat lunch, like rats. after lunch we can have a rest and watch t.v, no cable. after our brake we meet individually with our counselors, at 6:30 we receive our medications, and at 9pm lights are out. I don't know if i will be able to survive for four weeks, let alone six. We will have to wait and see.



Reflection-
After watching and reading girl,interrupted, i wanted to do something similar, like Susana's crazy encounter with the other girls and how she felt at the beginning but i changed stuff around a little bit so i wouldn't be retelling the story and instead of the same story i kind of made it mine, to give an insight on a patients first week

Letter to the government of the United States.

To whom it may concern,

i am pleading, with not just you but many for better health care and research towards mental health. In the mental institution i work in, McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, Ive seem not one but many come in perfectly fine kids, with no mental issues whats so ever, but they leave different. The society we live in today, is different, a kid acts strange for one day, or he is different from others, and fingers begin to point toward him, with the harsh words, and they immediately think they are crazy or they have problems. Too many mothers have come to me asking for my help because they're kid is simply acting out, sometimes it can just be the becoming of adolescence, but they insist something is wrong with there child. Entering the doors to the mental institution they are fine, but leaving they are reckless, because they have been told they are crazy, and its what they believe.
Our hospital is over populated. During this last year our numbers have increased dramatically and in many other asylums as well. We are not fulfilling our peoples needs, if you put a real good thought, you would see too, that many of the people here, don't need to be here, they are just simply misunderstood, and need to leave before they do turn crazy.
Other than that devastating fact, there are many other reasons as to why more research is needed toward mental illness, our patients need better care, better treatments and alternatives. It is evident that the care provided is not working, some of our patients and in other hospitals have been there for years, never really able to achieve freedom or accept the illness they have in order to move on. The medicines, work but for a short period of time and in order for America to be a better place, these people need to be helped. please take this into consideration, come by our asylum, or any in America and you will see what i mean more clearly, you will see that they do need help.

sincerely,
Nurse of The McLean hospital for the mentally ill.
Joan Nedlent.


Reflection-
While i was writing my timeline, i learned that during the 1940's- 1950's there was a lot of overpopulation in mental asylums and many of the patients were simply misunderstood people thought they had mental problems but they did not have mental problems and they did not need treatment, so i decided to write a letter to the government regarding my concerns towards the topic, and i thought using a nurse as the writer would be perfect because they are the ones to watch everything and everyone and experience one on one with patients and can distinguish the ill from the ones that are not.

Conversation between Holden and psychologist.

Psychologist: hello Holden
Holden: hi
Psychologist: how are you today?
Holden: fine
psychologist: Lovely day isn't it?
Holden : sure
P: okay, well how has your week been so far?
H: It really sucked
P: Why is that?
H: Because I've been dreading this day, so lets get it over with.
P: sure, so from the little i know, you spent some reckless days roaming around New York City.
H: That's right
P: What did you during that time?
H: i went out, and did stuff
P: what kinds of stuff
H: well...lets see, i spent a night with a prostitute, got robbed, and the very next day i got drunk, i also spent a day looking for Pheobe endlessly, and when i finally found her i couldn't have been happier, i had a date with someone i absolutely hate and....
P: sorry to interrupt, but how do you feel about this now?, after it all happened?
H: ashamed
P: no reason to be, you simply went through a phase.
H: no i didn't.
P: What made you turn to alcohol ?
H: i felt lonely.
P: why?
H: because i did, its not something i could explain.
P: What was going through your mind, before getting drunk.
H: i was just loaded with thoughts
P: what kind of thoughts? if you could specify..
H: loneliness, this was after the prostitute left, i felt sick, i actually looked out the window and thought of jumping.
P: That's horrible, but what stopped you?
H: i didn't want all the phonies passing by to look at me and feel sorry, its the last thing i want.
P: well did you want them to feel happy?
H: i didn't want them to feel anything at all.
P: do you think that kind of thinking is healthy?
H: sure why not.
P: well its not.
H: okay?
P: I'm sure you wont like this, but we will be seeing more of each other during the next month.
H: no we are not
P: you agreed with your parents
H: i agree to many things
P: do you want to get better?
H: yes.
P: then i will see you in two days.
H: ...that's what you think.
P: goodbye Mr.Caulfield, The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, maybe you should think about that, before our next session.
H: bye.



Reflection: During the ending of the book, we realise that Holden in is a mental institution and i wanted to do something relating to that, so i decided to do some research on psychology, to see how they would react to Holden's confessions, and i also watched some movies involving conversations with a psychologist, like girl, interrupted and Prozac nation.

Docter prescription for Holden Caulfield

Reflection-
After searching how to write a prescription or a recommendation letter from a Doctor, i came ac cross the page www.txt2pic.com and i decided to do the prescription instead and i looked at examples of how they are written and i did research on the types of medicines, Holden would have to take according to his symptoms in the book, like sometimes Holden had trouble sleeping because so many things were on his mind so i prescribed zopiclone and many times he was really depressed so i prescribed carbamazepine, etc.

struggle for beauty.

This is a poem about the pressures of society and how it drives Pecola Breedlove, From The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison into a state of madness. Her feelings of self hatred caused by society and their definition of beauty cause Pecola to desire something that is beyond what she can have, blue eyes.

Struggle for beauty.

As if the sun didn't shine,
and the water didn't run down the creek,
we would be dried, and in grieve.
you wouldn't enjoy this, but you would enjoy seeing it happen to me.
Evidently its what people in this town would like to see happen to me,
they are the cause but never the cure.
They purposely drown me and never throw a hand across for me to grab,
When they do throw a hand, its to tease me, see if I'm gullible enough to even reach for it, or simply for a good laugh.
I'm even the bigger fool, i would reach out.
They would once accept me, even for the slightest of seconds if i only had blue eyes, big blue eyes.
Behind those blue eyes would be love, happiness, talent, beauty, and intelligence.
Pretty dresses and soft blond hair, smiles to charm even the harshest creatures.
i could even love myself if i had blue eyes.


Reflection-
Again, finding a genre was difficult, but i knew i wanted to write a poem. At first i was going to do something about Holden Caulfield, but i was doing too much work about him so i settled for Pecola and her desire for blue eyes, in the beginning i wanted a specific moment to write about like when Pecola had a breakdown and thought she had blue eyes, but i couldn't wrap my head around it since i didn't know how it felt so i went for something more familiar and that is happening in today's society, the struggle for beauty.

Jerome David Salinger Biography.

Jerome David Salinger is the full name, he was born in New York City on January 1, 1919 to Solomon and Miriam Jillich Salinger, he had an older sister born in Chicago.

In his much younger years he attended the McBurney School, a private high school where he was captain of the fencing team, similar to his character Holden Caulfield who was manager of the fencing team. Later he enrolls in Valley Forge Military Academy, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania much like Pency prep and graduates in 1936. Right after he enrolls in NYU, but due to poor grades he quits before his second year.

In 1942, the dreading war between Japan and Germany begins and Salinger is drafted into the United States Army and spends up to 4 years fighting in and out. He took part on the invasion of Germany and witnessed the harsh conditions of the prisoners of the Dachau Concentration Camp. After the war ends, he spends 6 more months in the army, in which during those months he is hospitalized in Nuremberg, Germany due to stress.


To this day not much is known about J.D Salinger, since he refuses to be out in the public and also refuses interviews, but he is still widely known due to The catcher in the rye, his most famous novel published in 1951, aside from that, all of his other pieces are short stories, such as nine stories which is a collection serious of various stories all previously published in magazines, and other stories like The Young Folks and Hepworth, 16, 1924. There are also records suspecting that Salinger has many other stories that haven't been published and Salinger still at 90 has no intentions of publishing them just yet.

It is questionable that Salinger continues the story of Holden Caulfield in his other stories, many similar to the theme of catcher in the rye and some telling the story of other members of the Caulfield family. The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls, Slight Rebellion off Madison, I'm Crazy, The Last and Best of the Peter Pans, This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise, Last Day of the Last Furlough, A Boy in France, and The Stranger are all similar to catcher in the rye or a continuing story of Holden Caulfield.

It seems that Salinger enjoys this method of writing, since he's also wrote about The Glass family numerous times. The Glass Family is a group of fictional characters that have been featured in many of his stories such as, Teddy, Hapworth 16, 1924,Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters, Seymour: An Introduction, A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Franny, Zooey, Down at the Dinghy, and Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut.

Recently this year Salinger filed a suit against the writer of a soon to be book that is claimed to be a similar sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. According to an interview in The Telegraph, a widely known newspaper in the U.K, stated that the author John David California was working on a novel, called 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye It would be about a 76 year old character called Mr. C, who wanders the streets of New York after he escapes his nursing home, Very much similar to the catcher in the rye, when Holden escapes Pency prep school and takes us through his experience in new York city, it isn't known yet what the outcome will be or if “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye” will be allowed to be published.

Reflection-

After reading The catcher in the rye, i thought i would be interesting to find out more about J.D Salinger and his life and what led to this book, and from it i learned many other things, aside from that, like his experience in the army, and some similarities he had with Holden.

a timeline of mental illness from the 1600's- present

In the 1600's mental illness was viewed as a disease and the people at the time isolated themselves from the mentally ill, treating them as delinquents and inhumanely, often they were kept in dungeons and treated harshly towards, there are records that show that chains and violence was used as a treatment.

A man by the name Philippe Pinel also known as "the father of modern psychiatry", in the late 1700's made an approach towards the mentally ill and took over the Bicetre insane asylum in the center of Paris where he prevents the further use of violence, chains, shackles and dungeons and gave the mentally ill better and healthier shelter.

In 1713, more options begin to open for the mentally ill and a Lunatic Ward for men opens, also in 1744 Construction of naval hospitals begin to take place. The Haslar hospital built between 1745 came to be one of the most important, It became the main lunatic asylum for the navy and offered treatment which at times seemed to work.

In the 1840's Dorothea Dix, a former teacher had volunteered to teach a class for woman inmates, in March of 1841 at the East Cambridge Jail, she at the moment had no insight on the mentally ill, but upon her visit she saw how cruelly they were treated, inspired by this she researched more about the mentally ill. In 1842 she asked a question not many asked " why was the jail in these conditions?", the answered she received was "the insane do not feel heat or cold". Furious by this she urges Pope Pius IX to view how cruel and harsh the mentally ill are treated. After her death a hospital is named after her.



In 1883 German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin distinguishes mental disorders more throughout fully although some of his findings have been proved to be wrong.

Between the late 1800's and 1887 State mental hospitals become over-crowded. Nellie Bly reporter for the New York World, also known for her trip around the world accepted an undercover assignment that agreed to pose as a mentally ill person in order to investigate further on the reports made about brutality and neglect towards the mentally ill. After her experience she wrote the following :

"What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck."

She published Ten days in a madhouse after her experience, which changed the world and the grand jury called for an increased in funds and care for the insane which raised $850,000 for the mentally ill.

Around 1933, Germany under Hitler's rulings not only wanted to eliminate the Jews but also the mentally ill, seeing them as different and disturbing. The Nazi's attacked mental asylums in attempts to get rid of the mentally ill. In addition he passed the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring.

Later in the 1930's drugs, therapy, and surgery are used to treat people with mental illnesses, but it doesn't turn out as well as some plan after many people become infected with malaria. Electro-shock therapy also is used over the years as a treatment for depression and schizophrenia.

On July 3 of 1946 President Harry Truman signs the National Mental Health Act. The national mental health act forced more research into the fields of mind, brain, and behavior to find a cure or reduce the number of mental illness victims.

In 1949 lithium is introduced to treat psychosis by an Australian psychiatrist J. F. J. Cade. Before the time of Lithium there were other drugs in use, drugs such as bromides and barbiturates which were proved to be ineffective, yet to this day lithium is used frequently. A year later more options occur for the mentally ill, new drugs to help control the symptoms of mental illness, drugs like chlorpromazine etc.

In the Mid 1950's, the number of mentally ill increases all over Europe and the united states. Europe goes from 7,000 patients in 1850 to 120,000 in 1930 and 150,000 in 1954. In the United States there were more than 560,000 in 1955. This was a cause of wrong diagnosis. people saw strange behavior as a mental illness and only had a seldom outlook on the mentally disease.

In 1979 The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill also known as NAMI is founded. It was an organization for schizophrenic patients and their families, it provided support, education and advocacy. It was one of the most effective groups for the mentally ill and to this day still holds a spot.

In 1986 Advocacy groups join together and create the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression they raised funds for brain disorder research never with any government help of some sort.





In the 1990's, even more successful drugs are introduced, they were more effective, and had fewer side effects, such as risperidone etc, which was approved by the Food and drug administration (FDA).




Since the 1600's there have been major improvement for the lives of the mentally ill, the world changed from not accepting them and treating them as animals, to respecting and encouraging more studies to help the ill.



Reflection
I had the timeline in mind, but i was never too sure if i was going to write one, so i began to do some research and i found interesting things that i had never heard before so then i made up my mind and decided to write the timeline, and it also helped my with the next genres i was going to do, because i had more insight on its history

Movie review for girl, interrupted.

After sitting for 2 hours and 7 minutes without moving a muscle, you know you've watched girl, interrupted, although not as chilling as the book it still managed to make you shriek after Angelina Jolie's performance as Lisa Rowe the sociopath and Winona Ryder as Susanna Kaysen who had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder after voluntarily checking herself into Claymore Hospital after her " headache" which included an overdose of aspirin and a bottle of vodka as a cure. more commonly known as a suicide attempt.
Although James Mangold should have never added scenes to the movie that weren't in the book to make a more dramatic impact such as Lisa and Susanna running away together or Lisa's appearance thought the whole movie whereas in the book she was mentioned only in two chapters threw the movie off to the side a bit it still managed to pick its pace and win boundless awards, most for Angelina Jolie who according to Susanna Kaysen most accurately portrayed her character in the movie.
The movie was able to show the suburban life some meaning outside the usual shopping sprees and important social life and show the true life portrait of the 1960's, it shows the pressure put in woman to be like their mothers and to go on into ivy league universities like all the others, which Susanna rebels against saying " i doesn't want to end up like my mother ". Soon after she feels like she has no future ahead of her which leads into her sanity that we have an insight on after watching girl, interrupted. its chilling, informational and all together a success.


Reflection-
At this point i was stuck, i didn't know what other genres to write anymore or where to turn to next so i conferenced with Ms sackstein and we came up with some ideas, that helped me a lot and i was able to finish my project without any more trouble or worrying what other genres to write, and i thought a movie review would be interesting so i looked up formats of movie reviews and read some as well to have a general idea of how to write one.

An ad for mental illness.

Reflection-
I wanted to include some facts into this project and the only way of going about it to me seemed by doing an ad, since you always see them on t.v and hear them on the radio, so i wanted to inform people of some quick little things they might want to know or that they didn't know to be warned and carefull.

Life after The catcher in the rye.

Dear diary,

For years my parents have thought I'm crazy, you've witnessed it yourself, they've sat me down so, and told me more than once. I've been in and out of doctors offices and I've heard it all " you have a high case of anxiety disorder, don't worry with our help you will be better in no time'' and the most recent "you have a bipolar disorder"
To this day I feel normal, yet one thing I have learned from all those useless doctors is that you can never disagree or they will never let you of their leash. see this doesn't work for me.
I can honestly say I am tired of hearing " the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." at first I refused, I had no problem just a mild depression, but seeing this wouldn't get me anywhere near my freedom, I played along and admitted to their every theory regarding my mental illness but I was never able to conquer my freedom. as much as I deserved it.
After all the crap they made me go through I'm still here, and for one damn time I'd like to see myself without these medications they've shoved down my throat, I'd like to go back to being myself, for now you can no longer call me Holden Caulfield , but what you can call me is risperidone, zopiclone, lithium, or carbamazapine, nothing else. The carbamazapine was to help me stabilize my moods, the zopiclone was for my rare insomnia, the lithium was to treat my manic episodes and last but not least the risperridone was to treat my bipolar disorder, but I think it's all an excuse to get rid of me. My parents i mean.
These medicines took over and they didn't work, not for me at least.
After the never ending roller coaster I went through their theory's became something I could no longer control easily, or that I could play along with, remember when i sayd i could lie and you would never know? they never found out either, but i still wasn't able to leave.Their theory would included me in a mental health ward for a full 6 weeks, but my theory was otherwise, perhaps alone watching films all day, free of all things I've been claimed to be.
From my expulsion from Pencey Prep to today much hasn't changed, just that my parents have had more than enough of me, I've had enough of myself as well, but I'm not willing to change, just not yet. They had given me one alternative, to go to the mental health ward, and i went, now I'm thinking it wasn't such a good idea, i guess.


Reflection-
For this piece i wanted to write about Holden after he ends the book, which we don't know what happened so i used what i thought was going to happen or what was happening after and put it into Holden's perspective, My first draft i didn't something completely different and it didn't connect with what we did in class, so i remember we had done the journal entry's with Ms. Cya, and continued on to write.