Compliance: a prerequisite for mental healthMental health is subjective. Each individual is mad towards others; However, it is the people who exercise the greatest restraint who manage to act “normally”. This is achieved by imposing the title of madness on others who may be different from us, although in reality they are simply non-conforming, as opposed to crazy. In Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, this fine line between sanity and madness is explored in depth. Through the unveiling of Susanna's past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the Mentally Ill, and the varying definitions of the diagnosis Susanna received, it is evident that social nonconformity is often confused with insanity. When life becomes overwhelming during adolescence, a child's first reaction is to withdraw from the confinement of what is considered socially correct. Individuality then replaces the desire to meet social expectations, and thus begins the spiral of social nonconformity. During high school, Susanna is different from other children. Susanna: couldn't and didn't want to: ski, play tennis or go to gymnastics classes: study a subject at school other than English and biology: write papers on assigned topics ([she] wrote poems instead of papers for English; [she] got Fs): plan to attend or apply to any university; give any reasonable explanation for these refusals. [His] self-image was not unstable. [She] rightly considered herself unfit for the educational and social system (Kaysen 54-55). Although the people around Susanna feel disturbed by her lack of social conformity, manifested by others questioning her "self-image", she knows that she is simply being exposed...... middle from the paper...... the reasons for her commitment to McLean Hospital and the partial definitions of borderline personality disorder (the diagnosis to which Susanna was subjected), it is unequivocal that social nonconformity is often Confused with madness Ultimately, nonconformity can appear in a variety of ways. People who possess this trait can range from misfits, rebels, and troublemakers to those who simply perceive the world differently. Conformists can be disagreed with, glorified or vilified, but the one thing we cannot do is lock them away indefinitely. The creativity that emanates from non-conformism transforms society. the crazy ones,” they will always play a vital role in moving the human race forward, one “crazy” idea at a time. Works Cited Kaysen, Susanna. Girl, interrupted. New York: Vintage Books, 1994. Print.