Susanna reflects on the nature of her illness, including the difficulty she has making sense of visual patterns, and suggests that sanity is a falsehood constructed to help the "healthy" feel "normal" in comparison.

During her stay in the ward, Susanna also undergoes a period of depersonalization, where she bites open the flesh on her hand after she becomes terrified that she has "lost her bones".

Also, during a trip to the dentist with Valerie, Susanna becomes frantic after she wakes from the general anesthesia, when no one will tell her how long she was unconscious, and she fears that she has lost time.

After leaving McLean, Susanna mentions that she kept in touch with Georgina and eventually saw Lisa, now a single mother who was about to board the subway with her toddler son and seemed, although quirky, to be sane.

Individuals who exhibit emotions not commonly expressed are ostracized from society when in reality as humans we are all capable of experiencing mental health crises if strictly analyzed by a professional.

[8] In 2018, the American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann and the producers Barbara Broccoli and Frederick Zollo began developing a musical based on Girl, Interrupted, but this was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.