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  • Essay / Identifying Social Issues in The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

    The only novel written by American writer and poet Sylvia Plath and published in 1963, The Bell Jar is semi-autobiographical, with the names of its inhabitants and its changed places. Much of this comes from Plath's personal experiences and her own distaste for psychiatric treatment in the 1960s. As American psychiatrists became increasingly interested in psychoanalysis, the possibilities for research and treatment seemed endless. It was a very exciting time for psychiatrists: 66 percent of American psychiatrists were in private practice, a considerable departure from 8 percent in 1917. Although the profession did not fully embrace all of Freud's ideas, many found some regarding development and gender. very useful roles. Which suggests that the roles of men and women were as determined as biological characteristics. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Stating that mental illness arises from the inability to conform to gender norms. This perspective could be quite problematic (and inaccurate). For example, until the late 1960s, homosexuality was pathologized because it deviated from “normal gender development” (Hirshbein). New York psychoanalyst Gregory Zilboorg focused on conflicts between what he identified as women's roles (childbearing) and their professional lives. In her article, The Dynamics of Schizophrenic Reactions Related to Pregnancy and Childbirth, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Zilboorg began with a two-page investigation into women's susceptibility to mental illness around the time of childbirth: woman unconsciously living as a man and wanting to be a man, submits to the social demands of being a woman and marries. She makes relative peace with herself by accepting a child, but here's what she does: the child is born. She generally entrusts the child to a cleaning lady or a nanny... Sometimes she does not conceive before a year, 2 years, 5 years and 10 years. Then she accidentally conceives, gives birth to a child and goes into a schizophrenic reaction. For Zilboorg and others, it was natural that a woman pursuing her own career would develop a serious illness in response to the conflict between her career and the biological function (having children) to which it is linked. For a gifted young woman like Plath, who was accepted to Smith College on a scholarship, graduated with highest honors, won Mademoiselle's college fiction competition for her short story, Sunday at the Mintons, and so on. , etc., she was divided by being a woman first and foremost and a perfectionist. This led Plath to believe that she had not succeeded and on August 24, 1953, she made her first suicide attempt. Dr. Tillotson prescribed her first electroconvulsive therapy (EST) to bring her out of depression, but the psychiatrist did not give Sylvia any medication. a shot to anesthetize her before exposing her to this equipment which left Sylvia so traumatized by these EST electrodes attached to her temples that she felt like she was being "electrocuted for an unknown crime" (Wilson). Also in the tense climate of the Cold War, after the repeated errors of the American government (failure of the invasion of Cuba, fiasco of the Vietnam War), Americans increasingly distrusted authority and spread in other sectors, notably medicine. mainly caused by the use of electroshock therapy and lobotomy in psychiatric wards, which was reinforced when John.