Charlotte Gilman is one of the first women to go through the practice called “rest cure” and openly tell her story about all she went through. In her writing title “The Yellow Paper,” she mentions and gives a thorough explanation of her experiences in a mental institute which doctors tried to cure her of a mental illness called postpartum depression. Her time there allowed her to write her story about all she went through and she gives thorough details about the discrimination of women and all the tough encounters she endured through her treatment, which was created to cure women of mental disorders such as the postpartum depression which Gilman suffered from, was used predominately on women and had a very anal process in which they attempted to cure the disease. Some of the main ideas involved were those such as:

…Three core elements: isolation, rest, and feeding, with electrotherapy and massage added to counteract muscle atrophy… The patient was instructed to lie in bed for 24 hours each day, sometimes for months at a time, with a special nurse who would sleep on a cot in the room, feed her, and keep her mind from morbid thoughts by reading aloud or discussing soothing topics. Visits from family and friends were forbidden. The day was punctuated by electrotherapy and massage, sponge baths with a “rough rub” using wet sheets, and frequent feedings. The diet consisted of milk alone for the first week, or, if milk was not tolerated, 18 or more raw eggs per day. Detailed dietary instructions were also provided for the obese patient, in those days the exception rather than the rule. The patient would pass into a state of placid contentment. (Martin)

Once a patient went through the “cure,” doctors would slowly begin to allow the patient to see and talk to family members and friends until doctors could see improvement and believe she was completely cured of disorder. At this time once doctors saw this then she would be allowed to go back to the lifestyle of a woman such as, looking after the house and taking acre of children. This cure began when Mitchell got the idea that women began thinking to much which would keep them from looking after the house and not allow her to do the job of a woman in the family. In the quote mentioned above, this is the exact process Gilman went through during her time in the institute. Looking at this process these women went through today, one can see why women were driven to insanity and then checked in to these mental asylums for most of the time no reason at all.

Gilman, who was and active feminist, believed that all women should have the equal rights which men have. After her three months spent with Mitchell in the asylum, she believed that was what drove her to the level of insanity she was at and that the way doctors practiced this cure which was to confine the women in an area all by herself and force her to rest. Since Gilman was a mostly active woman which was not allowed during this time, drove her mad which pushed her to write “The Yellow Wallpaper” once she left the asylum. Her story is written to show others this unfair techniques which for many women was not a reliable cure. 

Mitchell knew this treatment very well and was aware of what he was forcing these women to do during their time at the practice. He gained his success from getting trust from the patient which allowed him to get consent for all he did in his practices. He was known to be a charming man and would receive letters from his patients after they went through his practice. This allowed him to get inside of the women and have them open up to him even though many of his practices were unusual ideas they did not agree with. Some practices he would use on women were those such as drop women off far from home and force them to walk back for exercise. He would also threaten women of him getting in bed with them just so that they would get out of bed. Other doctors which practiced the rest cure, knew that active women did not do so well under these same tactics so would work with them in other ways unlike Mitchell. This could have been why Gilman saw her treatment as unpractical and not successful. Another thing Gilman did not agree with or like is how the doctor would talk to her in a childlike manner, which to her would constantly make her furious. She believed that even though she was a women she should be treated as an adult and not a little child. The doctor would often call her little girl throughout her story which she obviously did not like. He treated her as less of a person and she believed that was not a successful person and that she should be treated just as ever one else, like a grown adult. One can see throughout her story that not only did men treat women with disorders in an unfashionable way but also the discrimination of women as a whole during this time.   

In Gilman’s autobiography title “The Yellow Paper,” to better fit the story she wrote it as if her husband and doctor were the same person. She believes that not only did the doctor speak down and discriminate her but also that her husband did too. She believed they both killed her artistic personality while she was going through treatment. They speak down to her like she was a child which is something she could not get over or agree with. When Gilman describes her room she makes it like she hates her room and does not want to be there. “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs, that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the windows, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings; but John wouldn’t hear of it” John is in charge of the situation and she has no say in where her room gets to be. She describes the room she stays in as, “…a big airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunlight galore. It was nursery first, and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge, for the windows are barred for little children and there are rings and things in the walls.” (WOWW) She even describes the room as a childlike room which even more proves her point of how degrading they were to her during treatment. 

This treatment, known as the cure, was an effective way to show how unfair the gender roles were during this time. When they put patients in bed and did not allow them to have much activity neither physical nor mental, Mitchell was able to keep women where he said they belonged. He saw that women should not be smart and that it was bad for their health if they were. He pushed women to believe that if they studied to long or if they were to have a job that it would lead toward problems in reproduction. He says, “She (woman) is physiologically other than the man (Stiles).” Anyone that has the guts to make a statement such as this is obviously someone in which Charlotte Gilman does not agree with. 

The treatment which Gilman went through really pushed her to expose Mitchell and show others all the unfair treatment she went through while she was suppose to be getting cured. Rather she was driven to even more a level of insanity. All she mentions in her story can be described as methods that never truly worked for her. She used her time during treatment to write this story called “The Yellow Wallpaper” and push her idea as an active feminist that the discrimination women went through during this time was an unfair treatment in many ways.
