“‘What is the matter?’ he cried. ‘For God’s sake, what are you doing!’” (Gilman 312) The woman in the story is described as a woman who is “mentally sick”. The man who has given her this diagnosis is not only her doctor, but her husband as well. Some people agree that the woman is sick. Others, however, think she is “faking” it. For example, “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” (Gilman 301). Because no one really knows what is wrong with her, “recovery” regiments set in place by her husband are things some people, including her, disagree with. In an effort to help his wife “recover”, he moved them to a secluded place where they lived in a large house that is quiet and rather dark. Furthermore, her husband refuses to allow her to visit or take care of her baby due to her current mental state. He says that once she is “better” she will be able to go out and visit her friends and family, take care of her baby again and move back to a normal house in a normal location. Quotes through the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and various databases talk about various contributions to mental illnesses. Different things such as sleep deprivation and isolation are contributing factors that worsen mental illnesses. Sleep depravation, isolation and the fact that her husband is also her doctor, are all contributing elements of why her mental illness being so bad. 

“It is a very bad habit I am convinced, for you see, I don’t sleep.” (Gilman 307) This is an important excerpt from the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This quote describes that the woman is not able to sleep due to her mind thinking that the wallpaper is more than just wallpaper. She stays up all night with it; staring at it, talking to it, and trying to figure it out. She ends up neglecting her sleep because of the wallpaper. In the database, it is concluded that losing sleep is a big factor in the mental health of individuals. The database discusses about how much sleep affects mental side of individuals. The qualitative studies were able to show that people with mental illnesses have a higher chance of having sleeping problems. Faulkner, Sophie, and Penny Bee acknowledge that the qualitative studies showed the more specific details of the quantitative studies. “Qualitative studies exploring the experience of sleep disturbance in particular diagnostic groups and contexts are urgently required, as are patient perspectives on sleep interventions.”(Sophie Faulkner, Penny Bee 1). The quantitative were able to look into what caused the sleeping problems specifically and why sleep is so important in each individual’s everyday life. By doing both qualitative and quantitative studies, it was able to help people understand how many people with mental illnesses are diagnosed with sleep deprivation or other poor sleeping habits. Although they have not found a certain cure in regards to the sleeping disorders connected to mental illness, there seem to be different strategies of treatment that patients have found to be effective for specific people. The treatment is different for most people because of how their bodies work, but due to the studies, they have found all kinds of different methods to help people with mental illness who are not getting enough sleep, get more sleep.  In the short story by Gilman, it is clear that the woman is kept up throughout the night due to the wallpaper. The fact that she did not get nearly enough sleep is a large contributing factor to the fact that she is not getting better. She is merely in a vicious cycle. She discusses how the wallpaper begins to talk to her the more she examines it. She is having hallucinations due to her lack of sleep. The lack of sleep, according to the database, shows that people who do not get the proper amount of sleep can have hallucinations. 

“Estimates indicate that feelings of isolation have large negative consequences for psychological well-being, and that the effects are larger for women and older people.” (Nicholas Rohde, Conchita D’Ambrosio, Kam Ki TangPrasada Rao 1). This database information is showing that isolation, especially for the woman in the story, not only affect women more, but also contribute to the psychological well being of a person. John, her husband, has re-stated over and over again that she is not allowed to see people or does anything until see has made progress, which is utterly absurd. As shown above, people with mental disabilities need to be interactive with other people around them. This helps to create an environment, which feels “normal” to the individual. To the contrary, the woman is not allowed to be around her own child, and rarely does she see her husband, John. He is always working and occasionally away for nights at a time. Thus, she is left alone without human interaction for unhealthy periods of time. While John leaves her alone most of the days and even some nights, this leaves her with nothing to do but to stay focused on the issues she faces. Normally, she would try to occupy herself with writing in her journal. However, John will not even allow her do that until she starts showing him that she is better. While she is left to wonder around the house, thinking about things, as stated above, she thinks about things to a unhealthy degree. She thinks deeply and in an interesting manner that is far greater in depth than the average person. If she were around normal people and treated as a normal human begin, things would not be as bad as they are for her right now. In the database, it talks about how important it is for people with psychological problems to not be isolated. It is especially important that individuals are not isolated in the way that the woman in the “Yellow Wallpaper” was. Not only was she kept from normal human being communication, but also she was isolated from everything she liked to do or be around.

The woman’s brother and husband are both physicians, which seem to have been both a curse and a blessing for her and her situation. Her husband is the one who diagnosed her with her mental illness and has also been guiding her recovery process. Her husband has given her specific orders as “her treatment plan” to get better. He has given her things she can and cannot do as well as giving her prescriptions specifically for her depression and anxiety. From outsider’s perspectives, John seems to be harming her more than helping her. The woman is obviously suffering from a form of depression among other issues. A husband is supposed to be someone who helps his spouse gets through difficult times. John seems to simply hurt her more than help her through the pressure he puts on her to get well. The woman is very conflicted. While she feels pressure from John, she also feels as if he is doing everything he can to help her. The woman’s mind is easily manipulated and thus with John being very in control of her life, she is having a very hard time getting better. He promised her that when she gets better they would be able to move out of the house she hates and return to a happier, more lively place. She wants this so badly, but does not realize that John is holding her back form getting better. In that sense, John may be ensuring that she is taking her medicine everyday, but he is not giving her the attention, love and understanding that someone with a mental illness needs. 

In conclusion, sleep deprivation, isolation and the fact that her husband was her doctor, all contribute to the reason that her mental illness is much more severe than most people might have thought. Through the databases, it is shown that specific things like sleep depravation and isolation do indeed create more problems with those who have mental issues and cause their illness to get worse over time. Rather than making the problems better, sleep deprivation and isolation in the lives of women in particular, increase mental instability. Some of the side effects that she experienced were shown and proven in this story as well as the database. It was proven that hallucinations, increase in depression, and sleep deprivation were linked to mental illnesses. 
