Mental Institutions in the Bell Jar

The Bell Jar deals with the theme of depression and mental illness in an incredibly honest and straightforward way, providing an insight into the issue of mental health which still resonates with readers decades later. In particular, one way the novel dealt with these themes is by covering the state of mental institutions in the 1950s. Our protagonist, Esther, spends much of her time at mental institutions, receiving various forms of treatments. Some things worked… and other things didn’t. In the process, the novel critiques the treatment of mental illnesses in her time period.             Esther starts out as an aspiring poet. But event after event, her mental health deteriorates. She travels to New York to work as a guest editor at a magazine, but finds the overall experience deadening. She then discovers that her boyfriend, Buddy, had cheated on her. And, she gets rejected from a writing class that she had planned to take. She also feels peer pressure to stop pursuing poetry and instead settle down and become a mother. Overcome with negative emotions, she stops even taking proper care of herself.             Through the novel’s depictions of Esther’s first mental institution, it touches on the state of proper care (or lack thereof) of mental illnesses that some of these institutions can have. Although she was supposed to receive help from the first institution, she only spirals even further into depression. The place was very oppressive/controlling and set many restrictions on her. Given that Esther’s mental illness stems from the feeling of being trapped in a bell jar, the oppressive nature of this particular institution certainly did not help. Dr. Gordon also displayed a lack of sympathy and prescribed traumatic shock therapy, which eventually led to her attempting suicide.             However, the private institution proved to be significantly more helpful. There, Esther noted that she felt as though Dr. Nolan paid attention and made Esther feel understood (although Dr. Nolan arguably still wasn’t perfect). According to Esther, Dr. Nolan seemed to display compassion and sympathy, and Esther no longer felt as trapped as she had before. Dr. Nolan also promised to only prescribe “proper” shock treatment. In the end, Esther quickly recovered thanks to the more caring attitude at the new mental institution.

Through the contrast of these two institutions, the novel highlights the importance of a compassionate approach to treating mental illnesses. At the first mental institution, Dr. Gordon squarely focused on trying to “fix” Esther. But proper treatment requires one to approach the issue from multiple angles. Dr. Nolan approached the issue in the way that would work best for Esther. Dr. Nolan actually cared about helping, rather than simply trying to throw random treatments at her and hope her mental illness gets “fixed”. This allowed Esther to actually recover and start living her life again.