In the 19th century, there were two common methods of dealing with mental issues such as depression or hysteria: one for men and one for women. For men, it was a method of surrounding them with things that were considered “masculine” and other constant stimuli. For women, however, a method called the “rest cure” was enacted. This cure was a tad different. Basically, a woman was confined to constant bed rest for up to eight weeks, not allowed any stimuli. This method would also prevent women from doing certain day-today activities such as read or write. The difference in these two methods of “curing” mental problems like hysteria and depression are absurdly different. On one hand you show a man all the reasons it is great to be a man, on the other you just make a woman lie in bed for five to eight weeks. Women are seen as being incapable of being able to receive the exact same treatment as men whether they are too frail or weak to handle what a man can do or just simply looked down on for being physically different. The rest method of the nineteenth century was very sexist, stating that the only way women can get better is if they go take a nice long nap. Then if this method did not work, they would perform an operation in which they remove the uterus(hysterectomy). While people of this time did not have the modern day medicine that this generation has access to, that still seems like such a huge risk for just a chance. Not only is it just sexist, but it all seems sort of unnecessary. If women were able to have any stimuli, not necessarily ones deemed as “feminine”, but any form might have been the key they needed to get back to themselves and feel better. 

In the book The Yellow Wallpaper, this “cure method” is used intensely. There is a woman patient who is dealing with several mental issues. Her doctor, who she repeatedly refers to as her husband John, is enacting said rest cure. They would allow her to walk in the garden every now and then to get air, but besides that, she would basically be confined to her room. She even goes on to say if she could write just a little bit she might be able to lift some of the pressing ideas on her. She even continues to say that she feels no companionship on her work. As one resumes reading this piece, the woman will continue to say that most everything will tire her out, whether or not she put any actual effort into the instance that exhausted her. While it would make sense for the rest method to be enacted here, I think it can be seen as almost a patterned behavior. She has become so equipped to the rest cure that her brain immediately goes to being tired when any form of interaction or activity. 

In Alspach’s “Is There Gender Bias In Critical Care?”, she goes on to write about the gender differences when it comes to treating men versus treating women in the field of medicine. A lot of it is mainly that most societies, whether it be the woman in this book or even our current society, do not really understand just how tough and capable women really are. It is just a common misperception that just because they are physically smaller than us, that does not mean that they are less capable to handle health risks than men are. Not wanting to perform certain procedures or prescribe certain medicines because they are a woman is complete insanity. If it is something that would help them I am pretty sure that anyone would want access to it. 

Diving further into the gender bias in treatment of illnesses, we now look at Judith Norman’s “Gender Bias in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression”. Norman’s literature reads that not only do 100 million people suffer from depression, but around three times that are affected by their suffering. She also goes on to say that one of the main reasons that most of this suffering can be caused by the gender roles, life situations, and obligations that are constantly pushed onto them day in and day out. Also things considered as normal female characteristics in an intensified version are symptoms of depression. Being irritable is considered a regular female characteristic and that maybe she is just tired, which would then make the doctors think that the quick fix was to put their patients on bedrest. They could have tried to asses where this depression was coming from. Norman acknowledges the most common causes of depression, being Biological, Environmental, and Psychological, but also implements a Cultural assessment to each of these three. Whether it be body image or certain prejudice, every woman is different and complex. That being said, it also may be a bit more challenging to determine the real issue and finding a solution in the 1890’s, but these are people nonetheless. 

In the article “WHY ARE WOMEN DIAGNOSED BORDERLINE MORE THAN MEN?”, Andrew Skodol goes to say that the female to male ratio of being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder is 3:1. This study was conducted because of this odd seeming ratio. The main reason that this disease is so in favor of being diagnosed in women is simply because more women than men are diagnosed with it. This does not necessarily mean that more women have it, but rather more are officially diagnosed with it. The odds of more men having this disease than diagnosed are fairly high. Men could be too prideful to admit that they need help, while women on the other hand are more likely to seek out help. Also instead of looking at the actual diagnosis, Skodol also tried to take a look at the risk factors for BPD. This decreased the percentage for women and increased it for men. One could also see the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper in the same way. She may not have necessarily been depressed or insane, but rather had risk factors of becoming clinically insane and or depressed. 

Even though the doctors were trying to help in their own way, they still should have seen that the methods that were being used were not working. Even though they were not directly being sexist using the method they grew up knowing to be the main method of healing, it was still sexist. That is how a lot of today’s sexism is. We go off of the prejudice that generations before us set and do not questions about it. Men do not seen an issue because we are not the minority in this case, therefore we are not negatively affected by this. It may not necessarily be on purpose, but the fact of the matter is sexism is just not okay, whether accidental or intentional. Women are people just like men, that is why it is so frustrating when they are treated like lesser. What did they genuinely do to deserve it? Nothing. 

In the article “Women and melancholy in nineteenth-century German psychiatry”, Lisabeth Hock goes on to state the main doctor performing test on illnesses such as melancholia would only include accounts of women. In doing this and not having any men subjects, it seems as if the study was sought out to be feminized. Much like Norman’s piece, one of Hock’s key thoughts in gender bias melancholia behavior is the gender roles and norms placed on woman daily. Another interesting point she makes is the differences between male and female mental disturbances. In a male, being excessively prideful and having an absurd obsession with gambling, sex, etc. For a woman, these issues included things such as love, vanity, and jealousy. Normal feelings that a human would have are seen as “mental disturbances” in a woman. While men are having real issues that need to be dealt with, while women are literally just having regular day-to-day feelings and being told that they are the issue. 

Our society is constantly filled with certain gender roles and norms that everyone in society are supposed to follow. Women are mainly seen as caretakers, while men are seen more as providers. The woman in this story was said to be a mother to a child, but due to her illnesses, she was forced to give her kid to another family member. She was allowed to visit with her, but she eventually had to say her goodbyes. conducted a study named Women and melancholy in nineteenth-century German psychiatry between the years of 1803 and 1913. The purpose of this study was to review portrayals of the relationship of women and melancholia in psychiatric textbooks in nineteenth-century Germany. Through clinical observation, anatomical investigation, and self-questioning, scientist tried to investigate gender norms and the culture in which they belong. Scientists in the nineteenth century believed that melancholia was to have one or more of the following symptoms: such as fear of anxiety, occasional aggressive outburst, over worrying about ethical rights or wrongs, and a negative mood. Negative mood was not necessarily meant as a "bad" mood, but more on the lines of feeling that are sad, angry, or just nervous in nature. Many doctors during this time believed that the female sex organs were to be the cause of such mental illnesses, such as melancholia or hysteria. Although the process was used especially in cases to help with said illnesses. 

A lot of people nowadays hear the word “feminist” and just eye roll at the term. This group would normally be including myself. But after reading The Yellow Wallpaper and researching for articles lined up with topic, I feel that this is a genuine issue that needs fixing not only in America, but in the world. The fact that this woman in The Yellow Wallpaper had to hide her writings because she was worried it would be taken from her is horrendous. Being locked away in a room to be on constant bedrest and forced to look at a wallpaper that she had issues with did not help her with her issues. Her doctors just overlooked her problems with the wallpaper and did not think twice about it. Had they realized that the wallpaper had a serious case of mold growing behind it, they could have transported her to a different room and maybe cured her mental illnesses. Instead they looked over her real needs and stuck to what they knew which was the “rest cure”. Maybe had they treated her like an individual woman, rather than just a carbon-copy of all women, they could have prevented her from falling into complete and utter insanity.
