A Biopolitical Approach to Mental Disorders Through Three Literary Testimonies: Alda Merini, Lori Schiller and Diamela Eltit

The aim of this study is to explore that linguistic and social revolution in the matter of psychiatric treatment protocols by analysing three diaries written by three female patients locked in three psychiatric hospitals between the 70s and the 90s in three different countries (Italy, USA, and Chile). Undeniably, we cannot consider these diaries as proper reliable testimonies for the purpose of our analysis, since each narrative is a mere ‘reconstruction’ of intense human and psychic experiences. Thus, it would be quite an impossible challenge, for anyone who personally experienced such a tremendous circumstance, to give a trustworthy, lucid report. In all three cases, in fact, the re‑enactment of the traumatic experience relies on some external collaborations that contribute to putting lived experiences and upsetting memories into words. Nevertheless, the three diaries combine both literary and documentary materials whereby their narrative schemes, unquestionably co‑written, teem with evidence, images, feelings and clues, altogether composing an internal point of view: the patient’s perspective.