Dealing With Depression In The 1800s

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Courtney Poole

James Sisson

ENGLISH 1102

Dealing with Depression In the 1800’s

Chevrolet Gilman is a well known writer for captivating novels of the 1800’s. She is also known for her odd, yet alluring short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper." This novel is full of rebellion, tradition, and the hostility over women’s rights. Chevrolet Gilman and her work has been well recognized, but also criticized. Most of the criticism she receives towards this novel has to do with the society that is portrayed in the novel. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is an informative novel about the writer herself, Chevrolet Gilman. The author attitude focuses on the gloomy structure in society during that time frame, and how depressing life really can get.

This novel shows how women suffered in their own way, neglected, restrained, and most of all depressed in the late nineteenth century. "The Yellow Wallpaper" was about a young woman who felt like she was trapped, and longed to be around people. She lived in a large summer home, where her husband confined her mainly within the top bedroom of the home. The short story focuses on the narrator’s own feelings, thoughts and observations. Everything we learn from the story is filtered through the narrator’s changing perception, and since the narrator continues to go insane throughout the story, her perception of reality is often completely opposite from the other characters in the story.

From the beginning we see that the narrator is an imaginative woman, she feels like this mansion she is living in for the summer is a haunted house, "A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house…" (2). Most normal people would just feel like they were very privileged to stay in such a massive house for a few months during the summer, not immediately assume the house is haunted. After having her first child, she seems to be suffering from what her husband claims to be a mental illness known as temporary nervous depression. Her husband, John who is a well known physician, believes nothing is wrong with her. Even the narrator knows that, "You see he does not believe I am sick!" (2). Not only one doctor has said she is just fine, but two, "My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing" (3). At this point I believe the narrator, and the people around her, including the physicians are in denial.

The first step to fixing your problem is admitting you have a problem, and no one around her was willing to admit she was basically psychotic. Women of this day and age often were diagnosed with hysteria. Hysteria was known as the disease of the female mind, "In psychology, the term hysteria was once used to describe a medical condition thought to affect only women. Symptoms of the illness included partial paralysis, hallucinations and nervousness" (Cherry, Kendra). Hysteria also deals with an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, and more. The narrator admits to having some of these symptoms, "I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition" (4). She also said, "I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time" (13). This shows us how these pitiful patient’s emotions could change in an instant.

When cases of hysteria first came into play in the seventeenth century, the doctors and physicians dealing with these patients looked into every aspect of this illness. This concept of female hysteria was first created by none other than the father of medicine, Hippocrates.

He believed that this condition unique to women, and interpret it as a direct cause of the uterus wandering throughout the body and hindering its natural flow of body fluids – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Even the name of the female hysteria created by the female body hysterus-uterus (Female Hysteria).

Of course with todays technology we know that is not true, but with the lack of technology they had in those days it must have made since. Hystira is the first mental dissorder ever dignosed to just women. CeciliaTasca from the US National Library of Medicine says, "Hysteria is undoubtedly the first mental disorder attributable to women, accurately described in the second millennium BC, and until Freud considered an exclusively female disease" (Tasca, Cecilia). In the beginning of this four hundred year study they didn’t have a lot of information about this illness that was sweeping over the female race. CeciliaTasca also said, "This disease was considered from two perspectives: scientific and demonological. It was cured with herbs, sex or sexual abstinence, punished and purified with fire for its association with sorcery and finally, clinically studied as a disease and treated with innovative therapies" (Tasca, Cecilia).

However, in the nineteenth century doctors still did not know how to really deal with temporary nervous disorder, even after many studies. CeciliaTasca states, "The concept of hysterical neurosis is dealt within the 1980 DSM-III. The evolution of these diseases seems to be a factor linked with social "westernization", and examining under what conditions the symptoms first became common in different societies became a priority for recent studies over risk factor" (Tasca, Cecilia). They continued to prescribe their patients simple therapies, such as meditation. They continued to tell women nothing was really wrong, just like John and the narrators brother did in, "The Yellow Wallpaper." Something had to have been wrong with the narrator. It may have not been hysteria, or what they called, "nervous weakness" but, maybe it could have been just extreme exhaustion or depression, but something was wrong. She was barely able to think on her own. Thinking drained her and made her tired easily. The narrator said, "It is getting to be a great effort for me to think straight" (18).

By the end of the nineteenth century a well known influential neurologist, Silas Weir Mitchell, had been studying hysteria for most of his life. He thought he finally came up with a cure for this mental disease. It was called the rest cure; it was widely known and used for nervous illnesses like hysteria. People from the Science Museum say, "He developed the rest cure in the late 1800s for the treatment of hysteria, neurasthenia and other nervous illnesses" (Wellcome Library, London). It was practiced more often on women than men, seeing that this illness mainly occurred in women anyways. Some doctors and patients didn’t find this very helpful; in fact some of them said it may have worsened the problem. Even though, the treatment did keep some patients alive, and also some of the other patients out of asylums.

Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell’s rest cure was basically imprisonment. He kept patients for weeks, sometimes up to two months. They were not allowed to do literally anything; they had barely any contact to the outside world. Tricia Ellis-Christensen said, "In the first few weeks, women were not allowed to engage their minds by reading or performing small activities. Most were even not allowed to roll over in their beds, suggesting that they may have been restrained" (Ellis-Christensen, Tricia). The rest cure also consisted of bed rest, and constant feeding of a fatty; milk-based diet. If patients resisted their feedings they were force-fed, "Patients were force-fed if necessary" (Wellcome Library, London). John also told the narrator, ‘Your exercise depends on your strength, my dear,’ said he, ‘and your food somewhat on your appetite; but air you can absorb all the time’ (5). So the narrator’s treatment did consist of food, but her husband believed that air was much better for her. Some of them almost became like an infant, nurses had to do everything for them, "Nurses cleaned and fed them, and turned them over in bed" (Wellcome Library, London). If the doctors and nurses felt like they were not seeing any progress sometimes they would turn to other forms of treatment, "Doctors used massage and electrotherapy to maintain proper muscle tone" (Wellcome Library, London). They took this whole process very seriously. I feel like they took it too far and some of their methods of treatment where unnecessary, like electrotherapy. They took it to an ultimate extreme, when they forbid the patients from extracurricular activities like reading and writing, "Patients were sometimes prohibited from talking, reading, writing and even sewing" (Wellcome Library, London). John attempts to control her every action, including her writing. She says, "He hates to have me write a word" (11). According to John writing is not good for people who are sick like her .He believes it will slow down her healing. Activities like these tend to make us feel better, because you are doing something you love, but apparently Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell disagreed with that. Today in mental institutions they do not focus on separating their patients from the outside world and having no interacting with other people. Mental institutions like to focus on, "Intergrading the ill person into regular activities such as daily group therapy, classes on coping strategies, and daily activities like therapeutic art." (Ellis-Christensen, Tricia). This is where I believe Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell and the other physicians went wrong. Isolating someone doesn’t help anyone; I believe it makes an ill person worse. Separating a patient from others makes them feel like an outcast. Patients with mental disorders need to believe that they are like everyone else.

The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" had a similar regimen to the original rest cure. According to Chevrolet Gilman, "I take phosphates or phosphites - whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again" (3). A major part of the rest cure was also oxygen. Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell and the other doctors believed their patients should breathe in all of the clean fresh air they could get. Like the narrator said John told her, "You need perfect rest and all the air you can get" (5). Most patients disagreed with what the doctors and nurses told them. The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" was quite a rebel herself. She would write the majority of the time, although she did it in secrecy while John and his sister were not at home. She would hide all of her writing materials as soon as she saw them coming towards the house, and act like she was quietly resting. Some of these women would go insane just from the rest cure itself. Women would try to rebel at times, and even run away if they could. Scholars of the Science Museum agreed, "This statement suggests that many women probably fought this treatment during initial days of imprisonment" (Wellcome Library, London). The rest cure cannot cure insanity. Like Tricia Ellis-Christensen said several before, "Its application might worsen the condition of someone with a mild to moderate psychological problem" (Ellis-Christensen, Tricia).

He had to have seen some sort of improvement in his patients for this treatment to become so popular and well known. I feel like most of the time it was all an act. Whether the patient was really getting better, or was just pretending to get better. The narrator must have not been progressively getting better at the rate her husband wanted her to; because her husband threatened that if she didn’t get any better he would send her to Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell. John said, "If you don’t pick up any faster, I shall send you to Weir Mitchell in the fall" (13). The whole idea behind the rest cure was to increase body weight and the amount of blood in the body, "It boosted the patient’s weight and increased blood supply" (Wellcome Library, London). He wanted to remove his patients from what he believed may have been a toxic environment. A large amount women had to be forced out of their homes to be moved to a secluded area to be treated, because most of the time it wasn’t their decision to go. It also wasn’t the narrator’s decision to go to this "haunted house" and receive treatment for her hysteria. "He said we came here solely on my account…" (5).

It is easy to say that most of these women were not really insane. A majority of them were probably suffering from extreme exhaustion or anxiety. During this time women did not have an opinion on any matter, there view was basically irrelevant. Their husbands made mad all of the decisions, even the ones that had to do with their wires. So it was their husbands who decided if women would undergo the rest cure, "Since husbands frequently were allowed to make decisions regarding their wives, the perception of the husband could determine whether a woman would endure a rest cure" (Ellis-Christensen, Tricia). Just like John and the narrator in, "The Yellow Wallpaper" he made all of the decisions for her, including her treatments she endured for her "nervousness." He basically told her what to do and when to do it at all times. The narrator tells us, "He is very careful and loving and hardly lets me stir without special direction" (5).

The only thing she can control in her life right now is what goes son in her mind. She starts by analyzing the wallpaper. John has told her she should not let such things bother her. I believe she focuses on it for the simple fact that she has some knowledge that John doesn’t. This becomes clear when she says, "There are things in the wallpaper that nobody knows but me" (18). The narrator is now certain that she has some knowledge that her husband does not. She is now beginning to realize that she has a mind of her own and she can use it.

You could really start to tell that the narrator was going insane when she would stare at the yellow wallpaper on the walls for hours, and then she thought there was a lady trapped behind the wallpaper. She thought to herself, "And it’s like a women stooping down and creeping out behind the pattern" (17). She was basically mesmerized by the pattern on the wallpaper, "The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing" (20). I don’t believe all patients with hysteria were actually crazy, but the narrator made me believe she was insane when she began to think the pattern moved at night. She said, "The front pattern DOES move - and no wonder! The woman behind it shakes it!" (25). Then she proceeded to say, "Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind it, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over" (25).

If it wasn’t for the narrator believing that the wallpaper was moving and there was a lady trapped behind it I would have thought she was just suffering from extreme depression. It has been said that there was a lot of misdiagnosis during the late nineteenth century. Depression was not recognized as a unique problem and therefore did not receive unique treatment.

Major depression is a mood state that goes well beyond temporarily feeling sad or blue. It is a serious medical illness that affects one’s thoughts, feelings, behavior, mood and physical health. Depression is a life-long condition in which periods of wellness alternate with recurrences of illness (National Alliance of Mental Illness).

The narrator was suffering from several of depression symptoms such as, feelings of hopelessness, loss of appetite, loss of energy, loss of interest in daily activities, and change in sleep habits. Some of these symptoms she developing while going through the treatment of the rest cure, which makes me believe that the rest cure causes depression. Instead of helping their patients, the rest cure is causing their patients even more problems.

The narrator had also just given birth to her and John’s baby, which also leads me to believe that she was suffering from postpartum depression, or also known as "baby blues." When having a baby it can trigger a thousand emotions, excitement joy, and also, fear and anxiety. Sometimes childbirth can bring out emotions that you may not expect, like depression.

Many new moms experience the "baby blues" after childbirth, which commonly include mood swings and crying spells that fade quickly. But some new moms experience a more severe, long-lasting form of depression known as postpartum depression. Rarely, an extreme form of postpartum depression known as postpartum psychosis develops after childbirth (Mayo Clinic Staff).

I am lead to believe this because she isn’t around her new born baby. She and John have a nanny who watches it, "It is fortunate that Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! (8). I believe all of her troubles are due to "baby blues."

I can understand why she would be so depression. Life in the late nineteenth century can be very depressing for middle class women like Chevrolet Gilman. In the late 1800’s women were only looked upon as for having no effect on the society other than having children and staying home and taking care of the house. During this time it was difficult for women to express themselves in a world dominated by males. The men had the jobs, and the men had all of the knowledge, or so they thought. The narrator is being completely controlled by her husband, and she has no opinion in any situation. Women’s say so and knowledge wee not valued in this day and age. No wonder the narrator became deranged after having their daughter. At the end of the story we can see where the narrator is finally breaking loss from all of her husband’s rules, when she locks the door to the top room she is in, and throws the key down into the front yard. She starts ripping and tearing off all of the yellow wallpaper. When John comes up the stairs after getting the key off the front path he sees what she has done. He asks her what is the matter and she says, ‘I’ve got out at last’ she said, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And I have pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back’ (34).

Although "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a lot to do with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell rest cure, it also deals with control, the control of women in the 1800’s. Women were treated very unfairly, not only be society but by their husbands as well. We see the narrator go through many stages and phases throughout her stay at the "haunted house." When she is at first confined and limited to what she does, and then later she starts to rebel and break through the control of her husband and everyone around her. I believe she was not sick. She was strong, strong enough to break through and finally be free from any restraints which most women did not have the power to do during this time.

Work Cited

Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Hysteria?" Ask. January 2013. Web. April 14, 2013. <http://psychology.about.com/od/hindex/f/hysteria.htm>.

Ellis-Christensen, Tricia. "Rest Cure." Wise Geek. 2013.Web. April 16, 2013. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-rest-cure.htm>.

"Female Hysteria." Female Hysteria. September 17, 2012. Web. April 14, 2013. <http://femalehysteria.net/>.

Gilman, Chevrolet. The Yellow Wallpaper. New York: The Feminist Press at the City Univ. of New York, 1892. Print.

Mayo Clinic Staff. "Postpartum Depression." Mayo Clinic. August 10, 2012. Web. April 21, 2013. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/postpartum-depression/DS00546>.

National Alliance of Mental Illness. "What is Depression?"NAMI. 2013. Web. April 21, 2013. <http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=depression>.

Tasca, Cecilia. "Women and Hysteria in The History Of Mental Health. US National Library of Medicine. October 19, 2012. Web. April 14, 2013. <http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480686/>.

Wellcome Library, London. "Rest Cure." Science Museum. 2009. Web. April 14, 2013. <http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/techniques/restcure.aspx>.