          

In the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main character is diagnosed with hysteria, a common disease for women at the time of the late 19th century. According to the article Hysteria, Feminism, and Gender Revisited by Cecily Devereux, hysteria was a sexist disorder that men made up to give evidence for the instability of the female mind, rather than a true medical disorder.  With regards to medical disorders, the main character recently had a baby, which brings up the possibility of postpartum depression.  She matches many, if not all, of the symptoms listed for postpartum depression from the Mayo Clinic.  Due to the sexism against women and lack of knowledge in psychology, the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper was misdiagnosed with hysteria instead of postpartum depression.

        Although the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper was diagnosed by her husband with “temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency”, hysteria is no longer considered a real disorder by today’s science and psychology experts (Gilman, 300).  According to the article Hysteria, Feminism, and Gender Revisited, hysteria was just used “ as a dramatic medical metaphor for everything that men found mysterious or unmanageable in women” (Devereux, 20). The women that rebelled against norms were considered “mysterious” by men because it was strange at the time for a woman to want to be more than a mother and wife. Hysteria was a way to oppress women, serving “as ‘evidence’ of both the instability of the female mind and the social function of women defined in relation to their reproductive capacity” (Devereux, 20).  Women who were strong feminists and spoke up for women’s rights were considered hysteric.  The symptoms of hysteria include nervousness and emotional sensitivity. This means that women who were anxious, depressed, or angry were considered hysteric by physicians in the late 19th century.  If a women seemed to have any mental problems, she was most likely diagnosed with hysteria. Many were just misdiagnosed due to the lack of knowledge in the psychology field during the time. 

The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper had symptoms of hysteria, such as extreme sadness, anger, and anxiousness.  Those diagnosed with hysteria could have other psychological disorders as well that also match the symptoms of hysteria. It would make sense that her husband diagnosed her with hysteria, since it was considered a real disease at the time.  He did not believe anything else was wrong with her besides the hysteria, even though she insisted that there was more to her health than that.  Although she does match the symptoms of hysteria, there are many things that show the reader that she may have a deeper illness.  According to John, the narrator’s husband, the treatment for hysteria is to take a break from any work.  The narrator describes her treatment, “So 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” (Gilman, 300).  Although the narrator disagrees with her husband’s diagnosis and believes “congenial work, with excitement and change” would do her good, she follows his orders as would be the norm in her time. She is basically forced to be in solitary confinement in the nursery of their house. What happens during her “treatment” is what brings up the possibility of her having an actual mental illness.  She is not cured from this treatment, as more serious symptoms appear, including hallucinations and delusions.  Her delusion also causes her to believe there is a woman in the wallpaper.  Her plan was to bring a rope to her room so if the “woman does get out, and tries to get away I can tie her!”(Gilman, 311).   If the narrator only had the fictional disorder of hysteria, her treatment would not have caused her to experience hallucinations and delusions. Without any true psychological disorder, her condition should have stayed stable.  However, with a psychological disorder, her treatment of isolation could lead her to go insane.  The fact that she experienced hallucinations and delusions without treatment, brings up the possibility that she had an actual mental illness.  With her depressive symptoms, paired with recently having a baby, she could have postpartum depression.

If the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper lived today, it is much more likely that she would be diagnosed with postpartum depression.  The lack of knowledge in the psychology field and the sexist attitude towards women in the 19th century did not allow for her to be correctly diagnosed.  According to the Mayo Clinic, postpartum depression is when, “new moms experience a more severe, long-lasting form of depression”(Mayo Clinic Staff).  The narrator has a baby, Jane, classifying her as a new mom.  There are many symptoms of postpartum depression, the most obvious being, “depressed mood or severe mood swings”(Mayo Clinic Staff).  The narrator refers to her psychological issues as, “dreadfully depressing”(Gilman, 301).  She is constantly feeling depressed and unlike herself.  Along with feelings of depression, women suffering from postpartum depression have, “excessive crying”(Mayo Clinic Staff).  The narrator shows that she exhibits this symptom when she says, “I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time”(Gilman, 304).  Crying “most of the time” and over “nothing”, is definitely considered “excessive”.  Though she only cries when she is alone, because she feels guilty for worrying her husband and being a constant burden on him.  The feeling of guilt and shame that the narrator is experiencing is another symptom of the disorder.  New mothers with postpartum depression often have severe anxiety, especially involving taking care of their babies.  The narrator never takes care of her baby, and rather has a nanny take care of her at all times.  It is almost as if, she never even interacts with her baby at all throughout the entire story.  Her disorder causes her to feel to anxious around her baby, “I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous”(Gilman, 302).  By having “cannot” italicized, the author emphasizes how extreme her anxiety is around her baby.  It is not that she does not want to be able to care for her baby, her anxiousnessf makes it impossible for her to care for her child.

 Some other symptoms the narrator portrays of postpartum depression are, “overwhelming fatigue or loss of energy” and “intense irritability and anger”(Mayo Clinic Staff).  She points out that the level of her fatigue is unusual, “Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able- to dress, entertain, and order things”(Gilman, 301).  Her husband forced her to rest all day in the nursery, yet she still finds her tasks too overwhelming and tiring for her.  A normal person would become bored with that little to do, but for her she feels exhausted.  When she had company over for the Fourth of July, her sister-in-law did all the entertaining for her and she explains, “but it tired me all the same”(Gilman, 303).  Having company over, even when she is not doing any work to be the host and entertain, still exhausts her.  The feelings of depression, anxiety, and fatigue began to change her attitude towards her husband.  She shows how she exhibits extreme irritability when she says, “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”(Gilman, 300).  It is normal for couples to fight, but she becomes “unreasonably angry” towards her husband and is recently more irritable.  Postpartum depression can cause these irrational and extreme feelings of anger.  If the dramatic emotions and quick-temperedness showed up since the time of having her baby, this is another symptom of postpartum depression that she fits.  The only symptom that the narrator has that is unusual of postpartum depression is hallucinations and delusions.  Near the end of the story, she has delusions that there is a woman in the wallpaper.  Her hallucinations could be due to her lack of treatment for her condition.  By being put into solitary confinement, it allowed her to constantly ponder her disorder and made her feel crazy that no one believed in the seriousness of her condition.  Her lack of treatment for postpartum depression most likely what caused her to experience these more serious symptoms.

The Yellow Wallpaper tells the chilling story of a woman’s mental breakdown.  The narrator claims to have a mental disorder but no one believes her.  Her husband diagnosed her with hysteria and him being a well-respected physician, as well as a man, made it a “correct” diagnosis.  However, with more advanced knowledge in the psychology field today, we know that hysteria was not a true mental illness.  According to the article Hysteria, Feminism, and Gender Revisited by Cecily Devereux, it was a sexist disorder to oppress women or something you diagnose a women with when you do not know the true root to her problems.  Using today’s knowledge, it is easy to see that the narrator matches the symptoms of postpartum depression.

    