Mental illness in women has only recently become accepted and understood. In the mid-1800s, women with any form of mental illness were diagnosed with “hysteria” or “neurasthenia,” isolated from family and normal life, and subjected to cruel and unusual treatment. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of many women diagnosed with neurasthenia and then sentenced to the "rest cure," a medical treatment that often broke women's will and forced them to submit to diagnosis and treatment by male doctors. As a result of the rest cure, Gilman suffered a transformative nervous breakdown. Through her experience, Gilman was inspired to reveal the details of her story to save other women from her terrible fate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayCharlotte Perkins Gilman in The Yellow Wallpaper, uses her personal experience with the care of the rest to advocate for women's rights and fight for change in the treatment of mental illnesses in women. The rest cure originated in the early 1800s and was developed by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell. His treatment became the standard of care for neurestania in the United States and the United Kingdom (O'Sullivan). This cure for neurasthenia and hysteria included a highly regimented treatment program. Treatment includes a high-fat diet to increase blood flow and weight gain, 24-hour bed rest, massage to prevent muscle atrophy, and limiting anything that might stimulate the brain, such as reading, write or even think with your head. Sometimes "if provoked, women are force-fed through the nose or rectum, or in rare cases whipped to ensure obedience" (Felluga). The patients, almost all women, reported being in agony and losing their minds during these eight weeks of torture treatment. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was put on the rest cure after the birth of her son when she suffered from what we now know as postpartum depression. She was confined to bed for hours and was separated from her son for weeks. Gilman explained in her autobiography that she "came dangerously close to losing [my] mind. The mental agony became so unbearable that she [I] sat blankly moving my head from side to side" (Gilman 96). Alone and abused, she noticed how "it wasn't physical pain, or even the slightest 'headache,' just mental torment" (Gilman 96). The treatment she was forced to undergo was mental degradation aimed at breaking her spirit, will and sense of self. When she had the most intense side effects, she cried for hours, crawled under beds and hid in closets to escape the torture and anguish of what her life had become. (Gilman 96).Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, the doctor who treated Gilman, also had an unsavory reputation among his colleagues and other patients. She believed that "male dominance was therapeutic" (O'Sullivan) and that it was healthy for women to bow to men, as this would increase their fertility. “Mitchell believed that intellectual success compromised a woman's overall health, particularly her reproductive function” (Felluga). Mitchell looked at and treated women as if they were only good for two things: getting pregnant and caring for the children they bear. She was cruel to her patients, threatening if they didn't get better or didn't get out of bed, she would wake a patient by "threatening to go up with her" (Martin). Even his friends commented that"a note of contempt creeps into his descriptions of his neurasthenic patients." She was a pale and weak creature, she had no more breasts than an average chicken on a boarding house table. race" (Martino). Not only were his words degrading and inappropriate as a doctor, but he was also known for his harsh and unorthodox treatments in which he would remove a woman from her home, leave her in the middle of nowhere, and force her to walk back as a form of treatment (Martin). His overall goal of treatment was to break the will of the patient so that women would submit to the patriarchy and return to their feminine duties at home her rule that women do not read, write, or participate in anything intellectually stimulating during treatment, because they are not mentally strong enough to handle the information unlike their male counterparts. She was told to “live as much life domestic possible. Lie down one hour after each meal. Have only two hours of intellectual life a day. And never touch a pen, brush, or pencil as long as you live" (Gilman 96). .Because of this horrific experience for Gilman, she was inspired to share her story with the world. "Gilman's tale highlighted caring of rest as a symbol of the paternalistic nature of 19th century medicine and the suppression of female creativity" (Martin). Not only did she write The Yellow Wallpaper, but she also included some details of her agony in her autobiography. Her aim was to to report the indecencies and mistreatment she suffered to spread awareness and save other women from her same fate "Gilman condemned the rest cure and by extension the harmful treatment of women by doctors, most of whom were men at the time." (The Neurasthenia Rest Cure and Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell) His story eventually spread enough and gained enough attention that it could change the way the rest cure was prescribed. These patriarchal ideas continue in Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper when he introduces John, the narrator's husband. Throughout the tale, the narrator relies on John for everything, especially decision-making and the diagnosis of his "nervous condition." This reinforces the idea that men control women and that women fail to take care of themselves and think for themselves. When the narrator tried to talk to John about visiting his cousin, he immediately said no and then she runs back into the room and cries (Gilman page #). It didn't matter what he wanted; the final decision was always made by the husband. Due to the Victorian period and stereotypes, women were expected to be caretakers of children and housewives. (O'Sullivan). At this point in the 1800s, unfortunately, it was widely believed in the medical world that relying on a man or finding a man was the cure for nervous breakdown, neurasthenia, and hysteria (O'Sullivan). Gilman made sure to portray the men in her story as figures of power and might, and her shadow character as a helpless being with no voice of his own. In her book, Gilman wanted to highlight and draw attention to how the rest cure reinforces male dominance and how doctors mistreated women's mental illnesses. After Gilman's success with her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, she became a women's rights activist later in life. She attended numerous conventions alongside Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as well as being a member of several activist groups including the Pacific Coast Women's Association. In 1996, she was also a delegate for California at the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention.