The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" has an underlying problem that causes her to go crazy; hints of the source are seen throughout the story, revolving around one small detail: the child. The child, although mentioned once or twice in the story, is still an important theme. Life after birth can be stressful and it's apparent that the narrator was not getting the proper treatment she needed, ultimately leading to post-partum depression.

   Post-partum depression is the depression one feels after giving birth. Symptoms include, mood swings, anxiety, irritability, crying, appetite problems, difficulty bonding with your baby, and trouble sleeping (Mayo Clinic). These are some examples of symptoms of the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper." For instance, the caretaker told the husband that she wasn’t eating. She often didn’t see her baby because he was with the caretaker. She states, “it is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous” (Gilman). The narrator often finds herself lying awake at night staring at the yellow wallpaper in her room. These signs can lead one to believe that the narrator had post-partum depression. 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman seems to parallel the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper." While Charlotte was going through pregnancy and birth she experienced “terrible fits of remorse and depression all through the time” (Davis). She didn’t think anything of it at the time because she said she experienced the same feelings all throughout her marriage. She also mentions that she was confined for months. She found herself having “wild and dreadful ideas” with “times of excitement and times of tears” (Davis). She had a daughter named Katharine Beecher Setson. After the baby was born Charlotte was left with the baby for three weeks by herself. She had trouble sleeping for that time, so she called upon the caretaker, Mary, to come back. Mary was also the name of the caretaker in the story. The book states, “while her symptoms resemble what we would today call postpartum depression, this was not an available diagnosis in Charlotte’s day” (Davis). Some may argue that because she also had periods of depression in her marriage, she was not just limited to the title of post-partum depression. 

In the time when Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper", Nerve Specialists often thought that post-partum depression linked to the “draining powers of the reproductive organs” (Davis). They believed that energy came from other areas to the uterus. These doctors even encouraged women not to do activities such as higher education because they believed that this would overwork the brain. The assumption can be made that because they didn’t discover post-partum depression at this time, doctors couldn’t effectively treat the women. This is seen in "The Yellow Wallpaper" when the husband doesn’t know how to care for his wife. He locks her in a room even though she is clearly uncomfortable living in it. He thinks he knows best and keeps her in it anyway. The narrator becomes ill and goes insane over the wallpaper.

Today we see that surrounding yourself with loved ones can help soothe the process of giving birth (Mayo Clinic). The narrator’s husband seemed to keep her from her friends and the outside world. She wanted to be with her loved ones, but John shunned her to the suffocating room. Had he let her socialize the situation might have been different. Proper medical care can make all the difference. The narrator knew that she wasn’t receiving the proper treatment, but this isn’t the husband's fault. As said before, doctors didn’t know much about how to treat post-partum depression because they didn’t know it existed. Needless to say, the husband could have not been absent from his wife in times of need. 

Some may argue that the narrator actually has schizophrenia. People diagnosed with Schizophrenia have symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and usual ways of thinking (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). These symptoms are found toward the end of the story when the yellow wallpaper finally tips her over the edge. She tries to get a woman out from behind the wallpaper and tie her up so she can’t escape. After ripping and fighting with the wallpaper she crawls around the floor, refusing to let anyone in to see her. This can be too extreme for the post-partum depression title, but there is another form called post-partum psychosis that could explain the weird feelings she has. Post-partum psychosis symptoms include confusion, disorientation, hallucinations and delusions, sleep disturbances, paranoia, and attempts to harm themselves (Mayo Clinic). The narrator has symptoms of hallucinations when she sees the patterns moving on the wallpaper when it was actually stationary. She couldn’t sleep because of this reason. Her paranoia kicks in when she thinks her husband is out to get her and she feels the urge to get the woman out of the wallpaper, despite everything being fine. Symptoms of both post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis are both observed in the narrator. 

Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s past can provide a look into what goes on in the narrator’s life. The author went through similar issues that the narrator faces, such as post-partum depression. "The Yellow Wallpaper" can be seen as a place for Charlotte to express her feelings during her pregnancy with her first child. Through Charlotte’s story we can see that doctors knew very little about post-partum depression; in fact, they may not have known about it all. Little knowledge about the subject can lead to the mistreatment of women suffering from post-partum depression. Women need the proper care to be comfortable after giving birth. Today we find that a good support system can help women through hard times post-baby. It was found that the narrator could have both post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis. This would explain the strange feelings that went through the narrator’s head while looking at the yellow wallpaper. Overall, the husband could have done a proper job of looking after his wife and making sure that she received the proper care that she needed. Leaving her in a confined room was obviously not doing the trick to get her on her road to recovery. In fact, it made it worse. It was up to the husband to sense that his original plan was not curing the narrator. Had there been proper medical techniques the narrator and even Charlotte Perkins Gilman might have had an easy adjustment to life after birth. But there might not be a story and lesson without post-partum depression in "The Yellow Wallpaper".