Ordinary People

As Conrad returns home from being hospitalized after his suicide attempt, he faces stigma from his mother and coach and copes with the trauma of being in a psychiatric hospital. While he mentions the friends he made like Robbie and Karen, he also recounts seeing rats scurrying in the halls and the lack of supervision that resulted in Robbie self-immolating.

Contemporary readers might be shocked to read about rats in a hospital, but Ordinary People takes place in the 1970s, a period of change for mental healthcare in the United States. Mental health facilities have a long history of inadequate care and abuse, from pre-20th-century “asylums” that functioned like prisons to abusive 20th-century facilities that performed procedures like lobotomies and involuntary sterilizations. Institutions were often overcrowded and unsanitary. By the 1960s, investigations into institutional abuse led to pushes for reform within hospitals and deinstitutionalization more widely. Some of the worst facilities were shut down, like Willowbrook State School and Letchworth Village. Advocates for deinstitutionalization argue that other methods of intervention like community care and supportive housing are more effective than long-term stays in mental health facilities.

Along with unsafe conditions in the hospital, Conrad contends with stigma when he returns home. While people generally supported improving conditions in mental health facilities, anti-psychiatry sentiment pervaded society. Many people felt that seeing a therapist was shameful, and depictions of mental illness in media were sensationalized and characterized by stereotypes. Ordinary People shows the value of a good therapist in Dr. Berger, who helps Conrad and Cal tap into their root issues and overcome their self-destructive habits. Beth, meanwhile, harbors anti-therapy beliefs; she refuses to talk about Conrad seeing a therapist, and she opts to separate from Cal rather than go for couples counseling. This sentiment also prevents Beth from reconnecting with Conrad after his suicide attempt; she does not understand his motives and has no desire to.

Outside of the home, Conrad is supported by his friends but faces discrimination from Salan, his swim coach. Salan asks him invasive questions about medications and whether he underwent shock treatment. He also bullies Conrad for his decreased athletic performance following his hospitalization. At the time of Ordinary People’s writing, there were generally few protections for people with mental health conditions. The first anti-discrimination protections for students were enshrined in law with Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, and these protections were expanded when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990.