In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author describes herself as having been diagnosed as having short term depression, when actually she is going insane because she is forced to not work while she recuperates. Her husband John, is a physician who denies the fact that she has a mental illness, most likely due to the fact that she is unable to work and that the lack of society and stimulus is prohibiting her mental stability.   The academic journal article, “Attitudes towards the people with mental illness: comparison between Czech medical doctors and general population” and the newspaper article “How Mental Illness Is Misrepresented in the Media”, both relate to the cultural aspects of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. 

In the article, “How Mental Illness Is Misrepresented in the Media” by Kirsten Fawcett, the author writes how mental illnesses in movies, tv shows, or books often are misrepresented and exaggerated. Although the media is becoming more “conscious” of mental illness, it still misconstrues the fact that mental illness deals with everyday tasks. Most mental illnesses portrayed are stereotyped or false altogether. Bipolar, schizophrenia, and depression are the most widely used disorders in the media today. Most news outlets sensationalize mental disorders and try to bring about symptoms of violence, disheveled appearance, and a childish personality. In real life, depression is the most common disorder, but news media seems to portray other less frequent disorders.

“The worst stereotypes come out in such depictions: mentally ill individuals as incompetent, dangerous, slovenly, undeserving,” says Stephen Hinshaw, a professor of psychology at the University of California–Berkeley. “The portrayals serve to distance 'them' from the rest of 'us.'”

The mass media is one of the few places we receive information about mental illness. Most often mental illness in the media though describe mentally ill people as looking different, violent or childish. They also describe people with mental illnesses as all the same, no matter the illness. It also describes them as not being able to battle the disease and recover. People should start to distinguish the false and true depictions of mental illnesses and the characters that portray them. These false portrayals can have harmful effects on the actual people that have the illness. Although people in media have tried to truthfully portray people with mental illness as unfavorable in society. Even if movies try to depict mental illnesses as silly, they are still painting them in a bad light as they are making fun of the people who suffer from these disorders. Mental illnesses seem to always be similar in that they all resemble each other. Recovery is also a big falsity in the media.People are depicted as unable to recover even though most are able to recover through treatment, whether it be through a doctor or a mental hospital.

“And despite new scientific advances in the understanding and treatment of mental illness, recent studies indicate that media depictions of mental illness are as outdated and harmful as ever, says Dr. Otto Wahl, director of the graduate institute of professional psychology at Connecticut's University of Hartford and author of “Media Madness: Public Images of Mental Illness.”

In the academic article “Attitudes towards the people with mental illness: comparison between Czech medical doctors and general population”, the article describes the impact stigma has on people who have mental illnesses. The number of health care professionals and doctors that claim that certain people do not have mental illnesses in eastern Europe is a problem to society. The problem is even worse worldwide, where stigmatizing attitudes against the mentally ill still pervade. When doctors begin to stigmatize against mental illness, and do not prescribe the right medication or treatment to fight the disease, people begin to suffer and as a result, their illness begins to worsen over time. Compared to the general population, doctors and health care professionals are reluctant to note of mental illness within their communities,  “several studies have demonstrated that despite having a higher likelihood of contact with people with mental ill- ness, the level of stigma among health care staff may be as high as in the general population.” The journal decided to conduct a research study on the amount of people in the medical field, versus the general population, who stigmatized mental illness in their community. As a result Czech doctors and health care professionals decided that mental illness was in fact prevalent and had less stigmatization among the community. The general population, however, thought that the prevalence of mental illness in their community was less than the doctors and health care professionals, and therefore had more stigma towards mental illness. 

To conclude the research study, the stigma towards mental health in Czech is very high, even among doctors and health care professionals, although their amount of stigma is much higher. 

In conclusion, the article “How Mental Illness is Misrepresented in the Media” and “Attitudes towards the people with mental illness: comparison between Czech medical doctors and general population” relate to the cultural time period of the text, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The idea of people with mental illnesses living a normal life is far fetched due to the medias and societies  role in mental illness. 
