Hysteria In The 17th Century

Since Plato and Hippocrates first wrote about hysteria in women, the prevalence of diagnoses of mental illness has been steadily climbing. Terminology has changed slightly over the past several centuries, evolving from hysteria to madness to mental illness; however, to what degree attitudes about mental illness have changed remains unclear. While methods of treatment used in the 17th century are no longer prescribed today, there still exists a strong disparity between the number of women diagnosed as mentally ill compared to the miniscule number of men who receive the diagnosis. It’s no secret that women were expected to be subservient in America’s earlier years, so high numbers of diagnoses during this period come as no surprise. However,
Women underwent electro-shock therapy, exorcism, institutionalization, forcible removal of their clitorises, and a variety of other heinous treatments (Ussher 18-20). One of the least offensive was the bed rest cure, which Gilman and the narrator of her story both experienced. This cure involved being confined to bed for a period that lasted between six weeks and two months, without being permitted to write, read, or in some cases, even speak. Gilman suffered from post-partum depression, and as a result, received the bed rest cure; however, it wasn’t until she finally left her husband and began writing again that her real recovery came. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is told again and again by her husband that he knows what’s best for her, which demonstrates the notion that the husband had to maintain his dominance and control over the woman’s life, a central element of the bed rest cure (Zózimo 96). In the story, Gilman’s narrator is eventually driven mad by the confinement, illustrating the emotional toll taken on women who received the cure. In contrast, men were rarely diagnosed with mental illnesses; in fact, Thomas Laycock wrote in 1940 that hysteria was a woman in her “natural state”, while a man who
Those who deviate from the norm are often declared to have some sort of mental illness or condition that separates them from the rest of the population. Women, in particular, have been historically more vulnerable to this practice, as any sign of deviation from their prescribed role seemed to result in a diagnoses of hysteria. In Gilman’s narrator’s case, her post-partum depression was determined to be a sign of mental illness, as she failed to fulfill the image of a new mother that society had created. Because of this, her entire way of living was changed; she lost all of the abilities that differentiate an adult from a child. She was confined to her bedroom and not permitted to write or read, just as a parent might forbid their child from doing things they enjoy. Her husband repeatedly dismisses her opinions as childlike and becomes increasingly convinced that he must take care of her. By separating her from her true identity, he is able to control his wife, as was expected of him as a 19th-century man (Zózimo 97). The increased tendency to medicalize the experiences of those who deviate from societal norms led to Gilman’s narrator’s diagnosis, and ultimately, her descent into madness. Society’s insistence on separating those who are different from those who conform to its expectations led to large numbers of women being diagnosed as mentally ill, just