Culture isn’t a simple concept. It changes over time. The way people talk, think, and act have developed over thousands of years. For the most part, women were looked down upon in the 1800’s. During this time, they were expected to just care for the house and not think or work too much because they were too weak to do so. Due to this image of women, they were given ‘The Rest Cure’, which was a treatment that prescribed women to exercise, get air, and eat fatty foods, but forbids them to ‘work’, to write, or to do anything involving them to think, (Gilman 300). They were given this treatment if they developed neurasthenia, including the common side effects of depression, insomnia, anxiety, and migraines (Stiles). This cure in most situations made women worse and drove many to insanity. Cultural Stereotypes, ignorance and lack of knowledge in medicine, and The West vs. Rest Cure during this time negatively impacted women’s healing, causing many to be lead to insanity.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” was written in 1892, so equality and views of women have changed. At the time women were looked at as weak and belonged in the home. This stereotype caused women to be treated differently. They were not allowed to do work, think, or make any decisions for themselves. They were told what to do, eat, and say, which eventually started to weigh on many women. Despite the society at the time’s views, women needed intellectual stimulation and work to keep their minds active and strong, despite the popular thought that they were only there to be responsible to tend to children and things in the home. Without these things, women felt as though they didn’t have a purpose. This could explain what the narrator in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ feels like in the story. She knew that if something was wrong with her, this treatment was most likely not the best cure for her, despite what her brother and husband, who are well established physicians. She feels trapped, and starts to reflect herself and her feelings as the women trapped behind the wallpaper when she goes insane. This reflection of herself shows that she feels trapped, because she knows that she is not healing and doesn’t know what to do, resulting in the more insane she gets, the more ‘healed’ she feels, (Gilman). She could have been easily saved from insanity if her family had just listened to her and if men and women were looked at as equals, instead of being held to rigid stereotypes. Men were also the only physicians, so they were bias as to their opinion on the cure and how it would work for women. Aside from these stereotypes, there was also a lack of knowledge to back up the men and their methods of treatment. 

The medical knowledge in the 1800’s is not very advanced. Medicine was just starting to popularize, and no one was completely sure how people should be treated for different conditions. Medical conditions at the time were difficult enough when they were physical, but mental was even harder. You can’t physically see a mental condition and see what would work best for it. Physicians at the time did what they believed was best for women with different mental conditions at the time by prescribing the rest cure, even though it was actually harmful. .It will never be known whether this was due to lack of knowledge or ignorance, and it could have varied with different patients and doctors. The stereotype for women would be what was ignorant, and not realizing that they are people to that need both physical and intellectual stimulation. The knowledge of medicine and what actually works to help people was very limited, though, so that is not ignorance. In a reading about the rest cure it discusses how women were not being treated with the best efforts. It says women are depicted as sicklier and more emotional creatures which lead to these traits being considered part of ‘the beauty and fragility of femininity’, (Piorier). The understanding lead physicians to believe that it is possibly normal for women to feel and act this way, and if not normal, they just thought it was nothing bad, especially because it was normally women who suffered from these conditions. Many women did not get proper aid also because many physicians did not believe that they were truly sick. “John’s a physician and perhaps – (I would not say t to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) – perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster”, (Gilman 299). This is describing how he doesn’t truly think something is wrong with her and that she is just being a woman. They did not understand the concept of mental illness to a larger degree at the time. They believed they were okay and that it was nothing serious. Although, something peculiar is that they were often held in either a public or private asylum. They acted like the issue was no big deal and they were okay, but then held them in an asylum and prepared for the women to go insane. It is almost as though they knew the rest cure would fail. It is also odd that they gave men a different cure for the same symptoms that almost always worked, but never wanted to try something with a similar nature for women. 

The rest cure is a common-known treatment for women, but the west cure was for men dealing with the same issues, and the cure is less well known even though it worked better. The west cure was a treatment for men and had a much higher success rate than the rest cure. On a website it discusses the nature of the treatment. It was to send men out to the west for a prolonged time so they could go hunting, cattle roping, rough riding, and take part in male bonding. It was so popular that even some successful and famous men today like Walt Whitman and President Theodore Roosevelt, and even the maker of the rest cure, Silas Weir Mitchell, (Stiles). This cure stimulated both intellectual and physical practices and helped to strengthen them. This was only for men, though, because it was believed that women were too weak and incapable to do those things. They were not supposed to. They should have created a cure for women which prepared them and taught them so they could get better instead of being left alone in bed rest. The lack of mental activity for a women’s cure weakened her mind, which most likely lead to her condition getting worse. It made women feel helpless and hopeless. They were not given a say in how to be treated, and would be ridiculed and yelled at if they argued their feelings. It is as though doctors at the time told them how they felt and what each feeling meant. With the west cure, that was never an issue. It states that west cure patients came back refreshed and reinvigorated, whereas rest cure patients had a rather unpleasant experience, (Stiles). Despite the successes of the west cure among men, many did not even consider seeing how that treatment or one of a similar nature would react with women.

The rest cure was a planned out treatment with some good thoughts about letting a sick person relax and destress. However, total lack of intellectual practices is harmful, especially when one’s illness is in their mind and it’s not a physical, visible issue. The physicians did what they believe was best at the time, but didn’t use any real science or research to back up their method. If they had, they would have realized that they are doing the exact opposite of what the women needed. Their lack of ability to do anything and being treated like a child increased their mental instability, making the healing process a long and difficult process, if it succeeded at all. Most women who survived without going insane narrowly escaped insanity by being pulled off of this method of treatment or ‘cure’. Through the time periods and research, it can be seen that cultural Stereotypes, ignorance and lack of knowledge in medicine, and The West vs. Rest Cure during this time negatively impacted women’s healing, causing many to be lead to insanity.
