Isolation can be simultaneously described as the human race’s largest desire and deepest fear. The idea of isolation is tempting to a person who feels overwhelmed and overly surrounded by human interaction, but it is much less tempting and much more terrifying to one who has truly experienced isolation. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is one person who falls into the latter category. She wrote, “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a social commentary and personal narrative on the widely accepted treatment of rest cure, which she had undergone herself. She spoke out against the treatment vigorously, as her first hand experiences had given her the perspective that the cure was extremely detrimental instead of helpful. She shed light on the fact that the treatment inherently causes more negative effects than positive because it goes directly against human nature by completely isolating a human being.  Although the story was somewhat fictional, it was inspired by her actual experience with the treatment that was administered to her by her husband, Charles Stetson. Stetson was concerned about her, so he went to S. Weir Mitchell, the created of the rest cure. S. Weird Mitchell set up a specific treatment catered towards Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and even let her be treated in her house, which is traditionally not allowed in rest cure. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a commentary and criticism against the rest cure because the treatment promotes extreme isolation which is proven to have serious negative effects on physical, mental, and emotional health. 

Rest cure rose to popularity as a medical treatment in 1877 (Martin 1). It was created by S. Weir Mitchell as a treatment for neurasthenia, a vague disease which is defined with fatigue, headache, irritability, and overall emotional disturbance (Martin 1). This disease was commonly over diagnosed in the nineteenth century, as many women who were actually clinically depressed, were said to have neurasthenia. Diana Martin is an expert of psychological history. She wrote an article about the rest cure and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Martin says, “The rest cure was adopted enthusiastically by the medical establishment in the United States and abroad and remained popular into the early 20th century” (Martin 1). Because this treatment was so wildly popular, it received a great amount of backlash from to general population when it was found to be detrimental in some situations. The treatment could vary based on the disease being treated, but in most cases, the treatment consisted of long term periods of bed rest, complete isolation, and very few activities to occupy the mind. In 1901, the cure started gaining infamy because of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (Martin 1). Gilman pushed the issue of the treatment tirelessly for the rest of her life, as she viewed the treatment as inhumane and unhelpful. 

“The Yellow Wallpaper” was written to provoke and question the general societal standards of women at the time. Gilman questioned their lack of autonomy and argued that this lack of autonomy could lead to mental, physical, and emotional fragility. It also functioned as a statement about the common point of view that women were less mentally stable than men and could be willed out of their alleged mental disorders by a strong male figure. Women were very frequently over diagnosed for depression and neurasthenia because they were viewed as more fragile and easier to corrupt than a man. The idea that women were less mentally stable became much more believable after they were treated with the rest cure because the rest cure created a greater amount of mental instability. “The Yellow Wallpaper” shared the story of a woman who was isolated from all familiar people, places, and things for an extended period of time in order to get a fresh start and wait out her depression. The story goes on to illustrate this woman’s dark descent into psychosis as a result of the treatment. The woman starts hiding and becoming afraid of normal activities. She starts forgetting people and objects she used to enjoy. She also obsesses about the room’s yellow wallpaper, which she finds revolting. She obsesses over the pattern and what could be lying behind it for weeks, and eventually becomes terrified of it. She was eventually unable to stop thinking about the wallpaper at most times while she was in the room. Gilman wrote this based on her own experiences, as she felt herself descending into madness during her time in the treatment. She shared this story with the public in order to show the drastic and detrimental effects that the complete isolation had on her physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. 

Medical studies have supported Gilman’s claims about the detrimental physical effects of extreme isolation. Michael Bond writes about a study on one particular female prisoner of war that was subject to 10,000 hours of solitary confinement with no human contact. (Bond) She reported major hallucinations and loss of self-identity during her time as a prisoner and even afterwards. She was quoted on having to create a new self-identity again after her imprisonment, as she never regained her former self. (Bond) Michael Bond describes that Isolation has been scientifically proven to high blood pressure, infection, and psychological diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. (Bond) It can also majorly fluctuate sleep patterns and a person’s logical capabilities. (Bond) Social isolation also causes a negative response from the immune system which is “a cascade of stress hormones and inflammation”. (Bond) One study stated that a man spent 366 days in an underground cave in Italy, and when he emerged he was fully convinced only 219 days had passed. His rhythms had doubled in length, and the research gathered found that while isolated people will eventually “adjust to a 48-hour schedule consisting of 36 hours of activity followed by 12 hours of sleep.” (Bond) Many others who have undergone similar situations have also reported bizarre hallucinations of sound and sight. Eventually, the extreme changes in physical and psychological state of being were so severe that some people become too distressed to continue functioning under those circumstances. (Bond)

The mental effects of isolation are also very detrimental. The brain has been stated to play tricks on an individual if they have a lack of sensory stimulation. Without the external sensory stimuli, the brain’s nerve system will transmit signals in completely foreign ways. Michael Bond describes that the brain will eventually continue to work, but in a different way than previously, causing the creation of an alternate reality. (Bond) He goes on to describe that similar experiments have been done on primates in which they are isolated from social contact after birth and emotional disturbance and social incapability have been reported as the results. (Bond) He also shares that children in Romanian orphanages underwent a similar experience and also matured to have rare mental and behavioral patterns. (Bond) The negative effects are apparently fightable with various coping strategies, but once the effects are undergone, there is almost no way to reverse them. There are stated cases of complete loss of personality and identity after sever isolation. Prolonged periods of isolation are now considered an inhumane act of torture because of the immediate and long lasting effects that accompany such mental distress. 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, to explain the horrors of rest cure to the American public. She first hand experienced the wildly popular treatment, and felt the detrimental effects for herself. Her dramatized account of the experience pushed people into action, and started the downfall of the infamous medical treatment. Shortly after she spoke out about it, the treatment became vastly less accepted. She also stopped the over diagnosis of female depression and neurasthenia. Because she knew specifically about the physical and mental effects that isolation can have on a human being, it allowed her to write a more convincing and correct account of rest cure
