Women and Mental Health in the 20th Century
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Women and Mental Health in the 20th century:
There is no doubt that mental health was a taboo and highly misunderstood subject before the 21st century, especially women’s mental health. Women across the world did not have a voice or many of the rights that they have today. Throughout women’s history, you can see the mistreatment and the belittlement of an array of different issues. The most startling issue that was often downplayed was mental health. Women’s mental health was a taboo and misunderstood topic during the 20th century. In the exploration of women’s mental health in the 20th century the author’s of The Yellow Wallpaper and Great Expectations depict and portray stigmas and inequalities in treatment for women relative to the time period.
Throughout years and years of world history women were usually perceived as the helpless and weaker gender, almost always placed under the man. Because of this stigma, women were always more prone to having emotional unrest or mental illness. This stereotype and generalization was not just used by people, it was also used by doctors who used to treat these women with these mental illnesses. Often time’s in the 19th and 20th centuries people saw women who had mental health disorders as women who have evilness in their soul, which can also be connected to the prevalence of Christianity during those time periods. Towards the mid-nineteenth century an era of horrific experimental procedures in order to find treatments for mentally ill patients. Then, towards the Victorian area which the books Great Expectations and The Yellow Wallpaper were set in women were really repressed about the idea of having mental illness. Any woman that even dared to display any emotion of sadness, unhappiness, or displeasure they were labeled to be “mad”. The common name for a women who we’d now say has been showing symptoms of depression was Hysteria. If a woman was diagnosed with Hysteria she would be sent to confinement. Women during these time periods had high standards to uphold, as every man wanted his wife to a perfect and passive housewife who did not show any ill emotion what so ever. This stigma would carry on through the 19th century and on to the 20th century.
Throughout the late 19th and 20th century women who had or were diagnosed with mental illness faced many negative stigmas. Women who seemed to show signs of what doctors then believed would categorize Hysteria or increased sadness. Women that showed any form of extreme sadness or grief were considered “insane” although they might have only been dealing with a mental illness. They were blamed that these illnesses they were experiencing were because they were females. Along with this negative stigma and label women were blamed about these feelings that they exuded as they were said to be the source of the pain they were feeling. Doctors during this time period had little to no knowledge of mental illnesses especially mental illnesses that were linked to women such as postpartum depression or menstrual cycle linked depression. Men shamed women for their mental illnesses and it was shown as an embarrassment to a man if his wife had mental illness. Often times husbands would try to keep the fact that his was mentally ill away from others in order to escape humiliation from others. Alike many other things during this time period men were in control of the treatment that women treatment. Husbands and fathers were the ones communicating with the male doctors on how to “fix” these women who had mental illness. In analysis, during the 20th century women were subjected to negative stigmas that were extremely sexist and discriminating simply because they had mental illness.
During the 20th century many women faced unfair or no treatment to their mental illness. Although women did face extreme stigmas because they had mental illness the treatments they received were far worse. It is reported that women received experimental treatments from doctors who were unfamiliar and uneducated with mental disorders who often resorted to torture tactics to try and coerce women from their “insanity”. Treatments for these mental disorders ranged from tooth removals, stomach surgeries, force feeding, and other surgeries. The most popular treatment to treat mental illness was confinement. Women were often sent asylums where they were faced with terrible conditions and were sent to be alone in order to cure them of their disease. They were seen as outcast and had to be removed from the rest of society until they proved they were “normal” again. Not only was being in an asylum a terrible thing they conditions of the asylums were way worse almost described as being Prison like. Although doctors at the this time believed that the rest cure was the most effective treatment many women who were brave enough to document their experiences proved otherwise. Many times isolation made their situations worse and thus making their mental illnesses worse as well. There is no doubt that the treatments used to cure women’s mental illnesses were awful and ineffective which in the long run made these women’s conditions worse.
In the novel The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman explores the mistreatment of a woman who suffers from a mental illness condition. The main character has just given birth to child and is experiencing immense amounts of grief and depression. Her husband chooses to follow the rest cure and rents a summer house. This brief synopsis of the book embodies what was previously stated about the character is suffering what we would call today, postpartum depression, as she has just have given birth. However, her husband insists she must follow the “rest cure” prescribed by Silas Weir Mitchell. The room she is confined