Reviving Ophelia (by Mary Pipher Ph.D.) is described as: “An insightful look at how to help young women and girls who are facing everyday challenges.” This book teaches that the inside of adolescent females is also changing, even as the outside changes. Females have a particularly difficult time between 12-17. Mary Pipher gives different reasons why, mainly because of America’s ‘poisonous’ culture. She also explains how parents and daughters can work together to overcome this.
Mary Pipher, a therapist for many years, gives examples in Reviving Ophelia of patients she has treated. She tells stories of girls who are promiscuous, have a drug problem, smoke cigarette and drink too much. She writes about girls who have eating disorders, refuse to attend school and cut themselves. Dr. Pipher writes in her book that, at the beginning of the career she had as a psychotherapist, it was difficult for her to understand the high number of girls with severe psychological problems. She concluded, after analyzing American culture, that girls and their self-images are poisoned by the current age. She talks about women and girls sacrificing themselves to please others or fit into the woman’s role.
Mary Pipher tackles several different psychological perspectives. They are not all very rigid. One of her views is sociocultural. She writes of the poisoning cultures in America. When she claims that America is a world of girl-haters and people who cause pain, it seems like she’s referring to America alone, not other countries. In other countries girls may have less psychological and emotional problems and feel more positive about themselves. This is not mentioned in her book. Dr. Pipher adopts some behavioral views. She writes girls are rewarded for denying their true identity when they give up on their true nature and choose to be a false person. In order to please others, girls punish themselves. She also adopts psychoanalytical views. She analyses the behavior of many girls with whom she has had therapy. She believes their behavior and how they present themselves on the surface is all a result of what they’re feeling and going through in their mind. She believes most of what happens to the girls is a part of a larger story. In other words, if she develops an unhealthy eating disorder because of a magazine with thin models, or has a bad image, that girl must have been poisoned. Dr. Pipher should have adopted a more biological viewpoint, stating that the chemical makeup of the brain is the cause of some of the mental and emotional problems girls of this group experience. Mental illness can be hereditary. She could have also looked to their parents to determine if they had anything to do with the struggles that these girls were experiencing.
When I read this book, my feelings were mixed. Dr. Pipher’s arguments were backed up by solid information. She gave many quotes from other psychologists. She also told interesting stories about the therapy she used. She wrote extensively about the impact of American culture and society on young girls’ self-esteem. It is true to a certain degree, I see skinny, tall, beautiful women everyday and it makes me want that. However, this does not apply to all girls. Even if a girl thinks these women are “perfect”, they won’t necessarily develop eating disorders or begin to hate themselves. You could also look at this as art. While she did make many good points, they were not stressed enough or repeated enough. The book was made interesting by the various personal accounts of the therapy patients. The personal accounts of her therapy patients were very interesting and relatable. I would recommend the book to girls because I think they will enjoy it. I would not take her opinions about girls and the reasons why they behave in this way at this time, as fact.