The Path into Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper -- Yellow Wallpaper essa

The Path into Madness in The Yellow Wallpaper In the late 1800s/ earlier 1900s, when Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced her episode of temporary nervous depression (Gilman 885), and wrote her autobiographical short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, the workings of the chief were mysteries that few checkup people attempted to investigate. A patient who was poor and ill-educated and exhibiting signs of psychic disorder was institutionalized -- ala Bedlam. The patient who was rich, educated, and/or from a good family was called eccentric and given a prescription for complete mental rest and controlled physical exercise combined with the consumption of phosphorus enriched tonics. This regimen was to be followed in an environment that allowed the patient to ingest large quantities of clean blank air (Gilman 885, 886). In her retrospective, the author was able to present a frighteningly candid view of the ineffectiveness of this last pattern of treatment. Ms. Gilmans heroines adventur e into madness started with an plan of attack of post partum depression. This fairly common side effect of childbirth comes at the time in her life when the woman (according to society) is supposed to be her happiest, most cheerful self. However, with her mind suffering from the effects of her bodys frantic attempt to realign its chemical components into a balanced state, the new mother is confronted by moods that are the antithesis of the euphoria she is told she should be feeling. This juxtaposition of expected and experienced emotions can create tremendous guilt in a woman, even a very strong woman. To mitigate this guilt, the mind can develop a psychosis, such as delusional disorder. Ms. Gilman was very perceptive in looking at he... ... this case -- unenlightened) treatment, progressing into dementia. And she created this scenario years, if not decades, before medical science understood the relationship between the various parts of her heroines -- and her own -- path into ma dness. Works Cited Danford, Darla Erhard. Pica and Nutrition. Annual Review of Nutrition Issue 2 (1982) 303 - 322. Decker, Chris J., MD, FRSCS. Pica in the Mentally Handicapped A 15 - Year Surgical Perspective. Canadian Journal of Surgery 36.6 (1993) 551 - 554. DSM - IV Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth edition. Washington, DC American Psychiatric Association, 1994. 290 - 301. Gilmore, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. Being and Becoming. Anne Mills King, and Sandra Kurtinitis editors. New York, NY McGraw - Hill Publishing Company, 1987. 886 - 892.