Ms. Kaysen's depiction of her life as a patient in that era rings true. She was on a ward whose population included young women with such psychiatric diagnoses or histories as acute psychosis, self-immolation, anorexia, depression, schizophrenia, character disorders, and substance abuse. She mentions, but does not describe in any detail, treatments including medications, cold packs, and electroconvulsive therapy. She describes patients whose main treatment was individual psychotherapy five times a week, group therapy about once a week, and little else that was directly tied to treatment objectives. Patients had scheduled leisure-time activities but also enormous amounts of downtime.