Idle Thoughts--Personal Hygiene: a Route to Better Mental Health? (Episodes 744-747)

[Luciaphile]

No fashion notes for these. Not really too much to say.

Ya know, I realize that Dirk is in Laura's thrall and all, but watching him make sure Jenny was good and armed before siccing her onto Quentin, I have to wonder how deep that possession goes. Dirk wasn't exactly the most decent guy pre-Laura; did Laura wipe out any scruples and/or moral fiber that Dirk had? Or did she merely help his many, many bad qualities to surface?

As campy as it was, I got a kick out of Crazy Jenny's stabbing frenzy in the drawing room. These episodes really belong to Marie Wallace. You could tell she was having a blast with the part.

Interesting that Judith didn't exactly rush after Quentin when she figured out what he wanted to do about Jenny. Yeah, I know she voiced opposition later, but you just know there was a part of her thinking that it would solve a lot of problems.

Surprise du jour: Jenny rated a church wedding. Of course, I notice we aren't given a denomination, but still given Quentin's proclivities, seems an odd sort of thing for him to do.

I just love the approach Barnabas takes when it comes to mental illness. Brush your hair and put on a pretty dress and you will be better. Still. I have to say, in comparison with her previous course of treatment, it's something. And he was well-intentioned.

"I'm sorry, I have no change." Heh. Gotta love Barnabas' aplomb at being mistaken for a bell boy.

As dysfunctional as their relationship is, I do think Quentin and Beth actually have something there. Too bad, it's doomed, but I enjoy their scenes a lot.

The whole scene between Selby and Grayson Hall was just too good. They both have a great way of playing off one another. Terry Crawford, who isn't the greatest actress in the world, was pretty good too and it's probably due, in part, to this chemistry.

That was the lamest attempt at the malocchio that I've ever seen (and thank you Rainey for pointing this out), but that was a nice confrontational bit between sister and brother-in-law

Marie Wallace was so into her scene there where she was trying to get out of Josette's room that she nearly made the set fall down.

Judith is definitely one cold woman. Her prejudice and bigotry is not one of her better traits. Ugh. Although actually, keeping Jenny out of a lunatic asylum was probably a kindness. And I have to say that I can't think of a worse place to take an unmedicated schizophrenic than a caravan. So given the options open, keeping her at home was probably the best. Facing the scandal and keeping Jenny at home in surroundings fit for human beings, however, would have been several notches better.

Did love the bit where she got shrewd and asked Barnabas if he could be trusted (too bad she didn't hear me shouting HELL NO at the TV)

All in all, some good acting all around and some decent writing.

Luciaphil

[onyx_treasure]

Surprise du jour: Jenny rated a church wedding. Of course, I notice we aren't given a denomination, but still given Quentin's proclivities, seems an odd sort of thing for him to do.
Luciaphil

    The sister of a friend of mine got married in the free-spirited seventies.  A line of their vows was changed from "as long as we both shall live" to "as long as we both shall love".  I think Quentin would have loved those vows.

[Raineypark]

    The sister of a friend of mine got married in the free-spirited seventies.  A line of their vows was changed from "as long as we both shall live" to "as long as we both shall love".  I think Quentin would have loved those vows.

Holy Hats.....a cousin of mine and his wife used that same vow when THEY got married in the 70's.  I thought they'd come up with that little gem all on their own!!

raineypark

[kuanyin]

A line of their vows was changed from "as long as we both shall live" to "as long as we both shall love".  

Ha! In my case that would be until they left their dirty laundry for me to pick up the eighty-seventh time....and even MY marriages lasted longer than the ephemeral feeling of infatuation, which is almost certainly what they meant by love!

So....how long did it last?

[kuanyin]

Ya know, I realize that Dirk is in Laura's thrall and all, but watching him make sure Jenny was good and armed before siccing her onto Quentin, I have to wonder how deep that possession goes.

The part I was especially fond of was him arming her with a weapon and THEN telling her to wait! Ummm, Dirk, wouldn't YOU waiting have been a better idea? Hmmm???

[Cassandra]

Surprise du jour: Jenny rated a church wedding. Of course, I notice we aren't given a denomination, but still given Quentin's proclivities, seems an odd sort of thing for him to do.

Im even more suprised that he married her!!  

I just love the approach Barnabas takes when it comes to mental illness. Brush your hair and put on a pretty dress and you will be better. Still. I have to say, in comparison with her previous course of treatment, it's something. And he was well-intentioned.

LOL!!  Poor Jenny,  she did seem to feel somewhat better about herself though after that.   That was probably the most attention anyone has ever given her on combing her hair and fixing herself up.

As dysfunctional as their relationship is, I do think Quentin and Beth actually have something there. Too bad, it's doomed, but I enjoy their scenes a lot.

I like them together too!  I think Beth is a good woman for him and truly loves & cares for him.

Although actually, keeping Jenny out of a lunatic asylum was probably a kindness. And I have to say that I can't think of a worse place to take an unmedicated schizophrenic than a caravan. So given the options open, keeping her at home was probably the best. Facing the scandal and keeping Jenny at home in surroundings fit for human beings, however, would have been several notches better.

I think she actually got worse staying where she did! Of course they had to avoid a scandal but Im sure that Judith knew of some well trusted Physician who would have happily come in to visit Jenny once a week to try to straighten out her mental condition. (if well paid of course)


Cassandra[/font]

[Luciaphile]

I think she actually got worse staying where she did! Of course they had to avoid a scandal but Im sure that Judith knew of some well trusted Physician who would have happily come in to visit Jenny once a week to try to straighten out her mental condition. (if well paid of course)

Yeah, but what could he have done? They didn't have anti-psychotic meds back then. Jenny reads as schizophrenic. The only thing that you can do for a schizophrenic, even now, is medicate. That's it. And it's a permanent/for the duration of your lifetime thing

The best she probably could have hoped for was to be housed in room that got some natural light that was clean and where she had some decent clothes. But even then . . . I mean, this is a woman who was definitely a danger to herself and others, so we're talking the bare minimum in furniture and amenities.

Luciaphil

[Midnite]

First off, I ADORE your title, "Personal Hygiene: a Route to Better Mental Health?"

Yeah, but what could he have done? They didn't have anti-psychotic meds back then. Jenny reads as schizophrenic. The only thing that you can do for a schizophrenic, even now, is medicate. That's it. And it's a permanent/for the duration of your lifetime thing

I agree.  I think post partum psychosis is another possibility.  I'm also relieved to not be the only one trying to diagnose the medical conditions on the show, hee hee.

I've wondered, too, how long Jenny was ill.  The personality changes of schizophrenia can take months, even years, and it may not have been obvious to anybody that Jenny was mentally ill until she started having the delusions and hallucinations.  I suppose it's possible that Jenny had symptoms even before Quentin left, but they went unnoticed, or ignored... She was becoming illogical?-- chalk it up to being another hysterical female.  Maybe she started to become withdrawn after moving into Collinwood, but who can blame her in that dysfunctional household?  And whom could she confide in, or seek sympathy from?-- her cold, supernatural sister-in-law who has designs on her husband?  Perhaps she was becoming paranoid-- complaining that Judith and Edward and Grandmama and Laura were out to get her, or the servants were whispering behind her back, all of which was most likely true anyway.  It could be that she already had a personality disorder when she married Quentin, and the symptoms were exacerbated by his leaving her.  Add to that the stress of noticing that your SIL has also disappeared, throw in some pregnancy hormones, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The medical community did do a little better than nothing back then, however.  Hypnosis was a treatment for schizophrenia.  Psychoanalysis was very new and might've been helpful to her earlier on.  She was about 30 years too early for chemical treatments, shock treatments, but thankfully also a frontal lobotomy.  The biggest obstacle for Jenny is, I think, her sex, cuz women back were thought to not have the mental capacity of men.  Grrrr!!!

The best she probably could have hoped for was to be housed in room that got some natural light that was clean and where she had some decent clothes. But even then . . . I mean, this is a woman who was definitely a danger to herself and others, so we're talking the bare minimum in furniture and amenities.

I agree that she was far better off at Collinwood than in an asylum, and that a change of clothes now and then and some assistance with grooming would've been nice, and if only the Collinses weren't so hell bent on making Jenny the other family secret so they could've provided better accommodations than the tower room.