Marilyn Monroe's Psychoanalysis Notes

April 1, 2023 9:45 AM

Marilyn documented much of her psychoanalytic work in the notebooks she kept throughout the 1950s. Monroe's notebooks reveal a woman versed in Freudian theory. She records her dreams and refers to her unconscious. She coaxes painful histories onto the page.
posted by SituationNormal (5 comments total)

She had read Sigmund Freud’s works and felt that psychoanalysis offered a means by which she might avoid the mental illness that had plagued her mother and grandmother.

ugh, pour one out for her. psychoanalysis is patriarchal poison
posted by Gymnopedist at 12:29 PM on April 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

She was trying so hard to get past her pain and the traumas she suffered in her childhood. I've always thought of her as a tragic figure but these entries make that even clearer.
posted by tuesdayschild at 2:14 PM on April 1, 2023 [6 favorites]

I don't know why I'm so surprised by her handwriting, but it shocked me a bit.

These notes are so bittersweet. She seemed very self aware and determined to get past what was done to her. It's rather loathsome that some people are still abusing her in a way this long even after her death; reducing her to a 2-dimensional character they can use how they want.
posted by Saucy Possum at 2:43 PM on April 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

Also quoted in Love, Marilyn, a documentary from Liz Garbus
posted by Ideefixe at 6:13 PM on April 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I hope that people in pain are getting better therapeutic help today.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:18 PM on April 3, 2023