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, the process involved surrounding them with things that were considered “masculine” and other constant stimuli familiar to men.  For women, however, the method used was simply called the “rest cure”.   This was considered to be a tad different and seemed to be very simplistic. 

Basically, a woman was confined to constant bed rest for up to eight weeks and not allowed any stimuli. In using this method, they would also prevent the women from doing certain activities such as even reading or writing. The difference in these two methods of “curing” mental problems like hysteria and depression are absurdly different. On one hand you magnify all of the reasons it is great to be a man, on the other you just make women lie in bed for five to eight weeks as though they can handle no other stimuli except what is immediate to them. Women are seen as being incapable of being able to handle the exact same treatment as men assuming that they are too frail or weak to handle what a man can.  It would seem that they were simply looked down on for having obvious physical differences  

The 19th century rest cure method was very sexist, stating that the only way women can get better is if they go take a long nap. Then if this method did not work, they would perform a hysterectomy, which is an operation in which they remove the uterus. While people of this time did not have the modern day medicine that this generation has access to, it still seems like such a huge risk for just a chance. Not only is it just sexist, it seems unnecessary and removes the woman’s chance to have children. 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.  Removing their options to bear children and ultimately affecting their hormones from such surgeries it would seem could worsen or enhance their symptoms and prevent a healthy outcome.

In the book The Yellow Wallpaper, this “cure method” is studied and used intensely. There is a female patient who is dealing with several mental issues. Her doctor, who she repeatedly refers to as her husband John, prescribed the 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. The narrator 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, it is easy to see that most everything will tire her out. The amount of physical exertion is not noted to matter because each instance 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 accustomed to the rest cure that her brain immediately goes into a feeling of being tired with any form of interaction or activity.  Instead of recovery she becomes trapped in a circle of resting, stimuli and exhaustion which could enhance her symptoms. 

In Alspach’s “Is There Gender Bias In Critical Care?”, she also writes about the gender differences when it comes to treating men versus treating women. A lot of the study shows that it is mainly considered that in most societies, whether it be the woman in this book or even our current society, we often do not really understand just how tough and capable women really are. In the same light we do not know just how mental illnesses can impact each person differently no matter what their gender.  It is just a common misperception that just because women are physically smaller than men or may be felt to handle less life situations, it is assumed that they are less capable to handle health risks or problems than men are.  In not wanting to perform certain procedures or prescribe certain medicines because they are a woman is complete insanity. Most would agree that if there is something that would help any person, I am pretty sure that everyone would want access to it equally.  

To dive further into the gender bias in treatment of illnesses one can also look at Judith Norman’s “Gender Bias in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression”.   Norman’s literature states 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 occurs is because of the gender roles, life situations, and obligations that are constantly pushed onto them every day. Often these are referred to as normal female characteristics, however, in an intensified version are symptoms of depression. Irritability is considered a regular female characteristic and it is normally felt that maybe she is just tired, which would then make the doctors think that the quick fix was to put their patients on bedrest. With increased investigation, they could have tried to assess the root cause of the depression and what was enhancing the symptoms. 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 were real women with real issues going to their doctors for help. 

Both of these articles are similar in their findings and established results noting that women are considered less capable to handle situations such as these.  They are not given the same opportunities as the men in studying their life situations.  However, in days of those times, women had quite a burden in their every day lives and responsibilities and bore more weight within the home.  The man on the other hand was considered to be the “worker” and thus justified in his depressive conditions.  Further reading includes the article “WHY ARE WOMEN DIAGNOSED BORDERLINE MORE THAN MEN?” by Andrew Skodol where he reveals that the female to male ratio of being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder is 3:1. With such astounding odds, he decided to conduct and report on his findings because of these odd seeming ratios. 

The main reason that this disease is so in favor of being studied 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 if not diagnosed correctly. His findings showed decreased percentages for women and increased it for men. One could also see the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” in the same way.  Although she may not have necessarily been depressed or insane, but rather had risk factors of becoming clinically insane and/or depressed. These may have been either situational or clinical and this is a key factor in healing and diagnosis. 

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 and thus the opposite of the other studies which often focused more on men. Much like Norman’s piece, one of Hock’s key thoughts in gender bias melancholia behavior is the gender roles and norms placed on women daily. Another interesting point she makes is the differences between male and female mental disturbances. In a male, common traits are considered as being excessively prideful and having an absurd obsession with gambling, sex, etc.   Because women process in a different manner, these issues included things such as love, vanity, and jealousy.  Normal feelings that all humans would have are seen as “mental disturbances” in a woman. While men are having real issues that need to be dealt with that significantly affect the man and family unit as a whole.  Women are literally just having regular day-to-day feelings and being told that they are the issue with no excuses accepted or consideration given. 

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 and limited their subjects from reaching their full potential. That is how a lot of today’s situational sexism works in comparing reactions and personalities of men and women. We go off of the prejudice that generations before us have set and do not ask questions about it. Men do not see there to be an issue because they are not the minority in this case, therefore we are not negatively affected by this. 

Though this may not necessarily be on purpose, the fact of the matter is sexism is just not okay, whether accidental or intentional. Women are people just like men although often to simply be considered to be wired differently and more emotional.   It often is so frustrating when women are made to feel that they are the lesser of the two when they are just created to be different. What did they genuinely do to deserve it? Nothing. 

A lot of people nowadays hear the word “feminist” and just eye roll at the term and I do include myself within this group.   But after reading The Yellow Wallpaper and researching for articles lined up with topic, I feel that this is a genuine issue that needs to be researched so that more solutions can be established to help correct the problem.  The stigmas implied with people going through depression should be removed so that there is no shame in having something wrong clinically.  

This requires a whole world fix not limiting ourselves 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. Isolating a person in a mental health crisis and being locked away in a room while on constant bedrest does not allow for engagement.  The brain requires stimuli and not forcing a person to look at a constant such as the wallpaper that she did not like which did not help with her issues. Her doctors just overlooked or brushed over her problems with the wallpaper and did not think twice about it. If they had further analyzed her, they may have realized that the wallpaper had a serious case of mold growing behind it.  This would give basis to the possibility that other causes can affect a person’s health and stability.  No one will know if moving her to a different room could assist in curing 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.

Mental illness studied in all of the readings for this assignment seem to focus their studies on one gender as being more acceptable with the women considered weaker.  This is a gender bias often given in our current society, but it is easy to see that is has gone on for more years than we are aware.  Providing each individual access to research, care and medicine that can not only cure, but maybe stabilize them so that they can lead productive lives should be equally given.  While it is noted that there are some illnesses that cannot be cured, full awareness and medicinal application are worth the chance if it makes a difference in just one person’s life.  The patient as a person and not a certain gender should be treated so that we remove the stigmatism’s associated with those that are gender biased in diagnosing and treating mental illness.  
