Although the words feminism and mental illness were not well known terms during the nineteenth century, women believed the way in which they were thought of and treated needed to change. Whether it was having the right to vote or having the awareness and proper treatment of a woman's mental illness, women knew a change needed to be made in the way they were perceived. A fundamental issue was that because women and mental illnesses were not taken seriously, the serious disease a woman could have had at the time would not be cured. During the nineteenth century there were many cultural texts and stories about mental disorders that explained two very different sides to the controversies. "Rest in the Treatment of Nervous Disease" by Dr. Mitchell helps one interpret "The Yellow Wallpaper" (Charlotte Perkins Gilman).  This story was written to help people understand that women in society, especially with mental illnesses, need to be treated properly and get the respect they deserve.

The main character in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a woman who obviously has a mental illness.  However, her husband is either very unsure of her having it or refuses to help her with it besides having her sent to bed rest. He is a male physician, which during the story, which takes place in the nineteenth century, makes it much harder on the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" to properly recover. Her husband sends her to bed rest for a few months in order to improve her mental well-being. As well as the woman's husband, Dr. Mitchell writes in "Rest in the Treatment of Nervous Disease", "when you propose to anyone, man or woman to go to bed for a month or two, you must be able to make him or her feel sure that it is the best or only way towards cure" (2). Men, husbands, and physicians during the nineteenth century were mainly in charge of making decisions for their wives and or patients. With that being said, the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and patients in real life did not have much of a choice but to adhere to the orders of men. This is one issue that Gilman strived to change. Being a feminist and a writer, she wrote about her own experiences and stories hoping to bring about awareness of these issues. From looking at what Dr. Mitchel writes in "Rest in the Treatment of Nervous Disease", it helps one understand why the husband in "The Yellow Wallpaper" treated the woman in such hindering ways. That is simply what he was taught and saw in the world his whole life. He went along with his morals of putting her to rest although his wife does not completely get cured from her illness.

Mental illness occurs from an imbalance of chemicals in one's brain. By simply having woman rest instead of proper treatment such as medication, the chemicals will not realign and fix her problem. Gilman, the author, did not believe that men and woman had physically different brains, "There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. As well speak of a female liver". This was hard for physicians such as Dr. Weir to comprehend at the time. He and other men did not have recognition of men's mental weaknesses, only women, being why womens illnesses were not treated a seriously. Dr. Weir seems to know that simply ridding someone to bed rest is not entirely good for them; "When we put the entire body at rest we create certain evils while doing some share of good, and it is therefore our part to use such means as shall, in every case, lessen and limit the ills we cannot wholly avoid" (4). Although he admits to evils becoming from lying in bed, he knows that not all illnesses are avoidable. Dr. Weir knew that poor things could possible come from sending people to rest but did it anyways. This is the beginning of the acknowledgement of mental illness in everyone, women included. Dr. Weir's writing can assist one in understanding why the woman's husband in "The Yellow Wallflower" was not completely confident in only having her rest in bed, yet still did it.

By the end of "The Yellow Wallpaper", the woman clearly becomes insane. The months of rest ordered by her physician husband did not cure her illness. Dr. Weir Mitchell treated Gilman, who wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" for her mental illness, by having her rest. Gilman incorporates her own personal stories into "The Yellow Wallpaper". Gilman's own struggle is reflected when the woman in the story cannot leave her house and has to rest; Gilman was sentenced to bed rest by Dr. Weir himself.  Dr. Weir in "Rest in the Treatment of Nervous Disease" writes, "It seems to the young physician easy to say to a woman who has been in bed for a month : 'Now the time has come for you to leave your bed ' the woman has gained a set belief that she cannot get up,  the assurance of her ableness to walk is no light or ready task" (2). Patients, Gilman for example, would of course have a difficult time resuming to daily life after being 'treated' for their illness. Dr. Weir knew that it was very hard to persuade them to get up because they were being improperly treated for their illness, so they were not cured.  Just as Gilman had a difficult time resuming back to normal life because she was not cured, the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is not able to overcome her illness. Both "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "Rest in the Case of Nervous Disease" can relate to each other from the treatments used, resting. Gilman, being a woman who seeks suffrage for all woman, is inspired by her own experiences which is learned from in "Rest in the Case of Nervous Disease".

One in every four adults will be diagnosed with a mental illness in their lifetime; without awareness of this issue in that time period, this problem could not be solved. Gilman was sent to rest and her experience did not completely cure her illness. Dr. Weir sends his patients to rest, but knows that it is beginning of the times where resting is not a complete way to recovery. He writes, "I should remind you that rest is a relative term, and that we cannot, or, at least, that we can rarely get entire repose, and that, in fact, arrest is not what we want. VI/e can only slow the works, and not stop them" (6). Dr. Weir seems to understand that no matter what, it is very difficult to have someone be at peace with themselves and completely rested. It is easier to understand why the husband in "The Yellow Wallpaper" put the woman to rest, because at the time there were not many other known cures besides rest. 

The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" becomes so tired from resting that she was afraid to tell her husband how serious her case was; "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer and that satisfies him" (210).  Men during the nineteenth century, for the most part, only listened to what other men had to say.  Because very little other men had complained about their own mental illness, her husband saw no reason for her to have one.  Also, the woman's husband believed she had a good life. The life they had was average at best, so she did not have anything to be upset about; or so he assumed. The woman's husband and Dr. Weir both expected women to obey them and rest when they thought it was necessary. This could be a major reason why the husband and Dr. Mitchell treated people the way they did.  Dr. Mitchell writes, "As to women, for some reason they take more kindly to rest than do men, and will stay in bed, when once there, as long as you wish, and longer sometimes" (2).  This is one thing that feminist Gilman really wanted to change. She did not respect the fact that men felt they could tell women to do whatever they pleased to tell them. It can be understood that this is why Gilman wrote the previous quote in "The Yellow Wallpaper".  Dr. Weir assigned Gilman to rest in bed, and she understood that he knew she would listen.  It is learned that she wrote that the woman will not tell her husband how sick she is because she knows what he will make her do.

Women in the nineteenth century did not have sufficient amount of rights. Gilman attempted to spread the message of women's rights and mental illness through her writing. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", Gilman brings about her opinions in a useful way to validate the ideas that woman need their own rights and mental diseases need to be handled correctly to fix the illness. Dr. Weir wrote "Rest in the Case of Nervous Disease" in order to show people how to handle people who need to rest in bed. It helps one interpret how "The Yellow Wallpaper" is written and why Gilman is rooting for woman's rights and for the awareness of mental health.

