The Yellow Wallpaper, "Depression and Disorganized Schizophrenia"

In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, we are given a glimpse of a woman in her darkest hours as we journey with her from simple depression to Psychosis. This story is about a woman named Jane who, after having her first child is mis-diagnosed with “Nervous Depression.” Her husband is a Doctor and in order to help her, he moves the family, along with his sister and a nanny, to a rented estate in the country. Once there, he prescribes complete bed rest for his wife and she is forbidden from working at anything or writing in her journal. In spite of her protest, Jane isn’t allowed to participate in any sort of activity that provides her with pleasure or occupies her mind. She is confined to a room papered with wallpaper that is an awful color of yellow and has an odd pattern. Jane is irritated with the wall paper but eventually begins to believe that she sees the form of a woman trapped behind it. As Jane becomes more anxious and depressed, the wallpaper provides her with her only source of stimulation. As the days progress she becomes more convinced that she can see a woman being held captive behind the wall paper; she believes that she can smell the paper through out the house. As Jane’s health improves, her interest in the wall paper deepens,

At certain times she displays an in appropriate response to situations. For instance, Jane laughs when there is a “miss-hap” in the dinning room concerning her Mother – in-law. When Jane learns that she will be leaving the house in two days, she decides to peel off the wallpaper to allow the women to escape. At night, Jane attempt to help the women behind the wall paper by peeling it ½ ways off all around the room. The next day, Jane locks herself in her room and tried to free the woman completely by tearing all of the wall paper from the room, she is terrible upset by the shrieks of the woman trapped behind the paper and tries to commit suicide to escape the maddening noise. When the bared windows prevent this from happening she gives in to her psychosis all together and begins creeping around the room in the piles of wall paper on the floor, convinced that she is inside of the paper.

Jane was unfortunate to be born in an era when women were dictated to and had little to say about their own welfare. Jane began to suffer from slight postpartum depression that, because of faulty care prescribed by her husband, developed in to "Disorganized Schizophrenia." Page 474 of Chapter 12, discusses depressive disorders. These disorders are described as the victim having lack of interest in activities and relationships for months and taking pleasure in nothing. These feelings are compounded by exaggerated feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness and hopelessness or guilt. Based on this description, I don’t believe that Jane suffered from a major depressive disorder because she still wanted to write and enjoyed the garden. When these things were taken from her and replaced with nothing, she began to turn her inquisitive and creative mind on the wallpaper that she was forced to look at day in and day out. Instead, I believe that Jane, after giving birth to her first child, suffered slight depression brought on by changing hormones, changes in blood pressure and metabolism leading to mood swings and fatigue. It is also possible that Jane was sleep deprived and overwhelmed with her new responsibility. When her husband refused to allow her to seek respite in one of the only things that she could escape in, her writing, she began to feel guilty about her condition and thought she to be inferior in all ways, especially to that of her sister in law, who seemed to be so perfect. Imprisoned in her room she began to experience hallucinations (page 461) she heard shrieks or voices calling to her. She was also experiencing hallucinations when she believed that she could “smell” the wallpaper through out the house, or saw women crawling about the grounds out side of her window. Jane had developed Disorganized Schizophrenia. (482, chapter 12) Victims suffer delusions, Hallucinations, Incoherent speech, neglect personal hygiene, and have inappropriate laughter or giggling. I chose this article because I want to educate people about the dangers of being mis-diagnosed and the need to assume ownership of ones own care plan. It is important to be educated on the issues in order to make informed decision and to act of these decision when ever possible.