Women's Encounters with the Mental Health Establishment: Escaping the Yellow Wallpaper

242 Pages·2002·1.243 MB·English

by  Elayne Clift (editor)

Women’s Encounters
with the Mental Health
Establishment
Escaping the Yellow Wallpaper
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Women’s Encounters
with the Mental Health
Establishment
Escaping the Yellow Wallpaper
Elayne Clift, MA
Editor
3 Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
New York London
© 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm,
and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
First published by
The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580.
This edition published 2013 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
"When Therapy Works" by Maryhelen Snyder first appeared in the Journal of Humanistic
Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 2, Spring 2000.
"Going Out" by Catherine Turnbull first appeared in Calliope, Vol. 16, No. 2, Spring/Summer
1993.
"Since You Asked, Here Is Why" by Amy Stuber first appeared in the Colorado Review, Vol. XX,
No. 2, Fall 1993.
Excerpt from Welcome to My Country by Lauren Slater, copyright 1996 by Lauren Slater, used by
permission of Random House, Inc., and Penguin UK.
Excerpt from Undercurrents, copyright 1995 by Martha Manning, reprinted by permission of
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Excerpt from The Loony Bin Trip, copyright 1990,2000 by Kate Millett, reprinted by permission of
Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the author.
"You, Dr. Martin" from The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton. Copyright © 1981 by Linda Gray
Sexton and Loring Conant, Jr., Executors of the Will of Anne Sexton. Reprinted by permission of
Houghton Mifflin, and Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, copyright 1971 by Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. ,
reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. and by permission of Faber & Faber,
London.
"Resume," copyright 1926, 1928, renewed 1954 © 1956 by Dorothy Parker, from The Portable
Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker, edited by Brendan Gill. Used by permission of Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.
Cover design by Anastasia Litwak.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Women's encounters with the mental health establishment : escaping the yello w wallpaper / Elayne
Clift, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7890-1545-5 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7890-1546-3 (alk. paper)
1. Mentally ill women—Care. 2. Women—Mental health services. 3. Chronically ill—Care.
4. Mentally ill women—Miscellanea. I. Clift, Elayne.
RC480.53 .E83 2002
362.2Ό82—dc21
2001051595
For Sue,
for Walter and his family,
and especially for my mother,
whose life was a metaphor for the multitudes.
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CONTENTS
About the Editor xii
Contributors xiii
Foreword: Women As Subjects of Their Experiences xix
Kelley L. Phillips
Acknowledgments xxiii
Prologue: The Yellow Wallpaper 1
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
I: HOSPITALS
FromThe Loony-Bin Trip 19
Kate Millett
Life Inside 21
Mindy Lewis
Ode to Carrie White 40
Elayne Clift
FromThe Bell Jar 41
Sylvia Plath
For Love Nor Money 45
Anonymous
Since You Asked, Here Is Why 54
Amy Stuber
Death Interrupted 61
Barbara Shooltz Kendzierski
Outstanding Charges 62
Barbara Shooltz Kendzierski
The Setup 63
Mary Hower
The Scream 75
J. Lisa Richesson
Hospital 82
Anne Myra Benjamin
Safe Places 86
Catherine Ann Fabio
The Waiting Room 103
Kathleen M. Kelley
Home Sweet Nuthouse 104
Sara Kirschenbaum
i remember 109
Hadiyah Carlyle
Bathing in the Bin 112
Jo Patti
Outtakes 114
Elayne Clift
You, Doctor Martin 118
Anne Sexton
II: THERAPY
FromWelcome to My Country 123
Lauren Slater
The Caregivers’Dance 126
Catherine Spensley
The Psychoanalyst’s Daughter: A Memoir 135
Karen Wunsch
Vested Interests 145
Geraldine A. J. Sanford
Putdown 146
Geraldine A. J. Sanford
Is She Really Listening? 147
Anna Mills
We Go a Little Over the Hour 152
Kathleen M. Kelley
Suite 506 154
Barbara Shooltz Kendzierski
Escaping the Cabin 156
Adrienne Ross
Therapy 164
Celia Jeffries
Preview 166
Nancy A. McMichael
FromUndercurrents 170
Martha Manning
It’s Going to Be a Great Daypro 173
Megeen R. Mulholland
Side Effects May Include: 174
Megeen R. Mulholland
Transference 176
Beth Schorr Jaffe
Consult 180
Mary Damon Peltier