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 people and places changed. Plath’s experiences in the 1960s and her distaste for psychotherapy are at the heart of this novel. American psychiatry began to be more interested than ever in psychoanalysis. Treatment and research possibilities were seemingly endless. The time was exciting for psychiatrists. 66 percent of American psychiatrists had private practices, which is a huge difference from 8 percent in 1917. Despite not fully embracing Freud’s ideas on gender and development, many psychiatrists found them helpful. According to this theory, the role of women and men is determined by both biological characteristics and gender.
Mental illness can be attributed to a lack of gender conformity. This viewpoint could be problematic (and incorrect). In the late 1960s for instance, homosexuality became pathologized due to its deviation from “normal gender developments” (Hirshbein). Gregory Zilboorg is a New York based psychoanalyst. He focused on conflicting roles between men and women, particularly in the area of childbearing. Zilboorg wrote in The Dynamics of Schizophrenic Responses Related to Pregnancy & Childbirth that women are susceptible to mental illness when they give birth. She accepts only one child but she gives birth to it. She gives it to a domestic worker or a nursing assistant. She conceives by accident and gives birth to the child, causing her to have a schizophrenic breakdown.
Zilboorg thought that it was only natural for a woman to develop a major disease as a response to her conflicting biological functions (bearing kids). Plath is a young gifted woman who has been accepted on a scholarship into Smith College and graduated with high honors. She also won Mademoiselle’s College Fiction Contest for her short-story, Sunday at Mintons. etc. etc. Her split personality was due to her being both a woman and perfectionist. Plath became depressed and attempted suicide for the first time on August 24th.
Dr Tillotson prescribed Sylvia her first course electroshock therapy to help her overcome depression. However, the psychiatrist failed to give Sylvia a medication or a shot of anaesthesia before exposing Sylvia to this equipment. This left Sylvia feeling so traumatised that she thought she was “being electrocuted” for a crime she did not commit (Wilson). In the Cold War climate, as well as after repeated US government blunders (failed Cuban invasion, fiasco in Vietnam War), Americans distrusted authority.
John F. Kennedy’s story about his sister’s failed surgery lobotomy sparked public outrage. While The Bell Jar is somewhat in agreement with these sentiments it is not quite so disestablishmentarian. It could even be seen as an argument for electroshock treatment. The Bell Jar’s twentieth chapter is full of morbidity. Joan’s apparent remission was ended by a sudden suicide. Esther knows that she is alive and finds some comfort by saying, “I breathed deeply and listened carefully to my heart’s old bragging”. I Am, I Am, I Am”. She describes her leaving of the mental hospital by saying that she was “born twice”. This send off is consistent with Sylvia Plath’s personal mental health at the same time. She was admitted in McLean Hospital Massachusetts. There, she met Ruth Beuscher. Beuscher convinced Plath to do a second treatment of electroshock, which led her to long-term remission. Her depression appeared to vanish during the Christmas holiday. “Plath recovered completely and returned to Smith College by early February of 1954. She had successfully completed her degree and written honors Theses. Plath didn’t have a serious episode until January 1963. It was the end of a creative and energetic period, during which she slept little. Plath’s London-based psychiatrist, Dr Beuscher, was unavailable. Plath and her 2 young children were unable to secure a spot in a psychiatric ward.
Plath took her own life on February 11, 1963. Plath committed suicide on February 11, 1963. Sylvia’s life could have been saved if she had access to more electroconvulsive treatments.
