1. Charlotte Perkins Gilman

2. Dr. Weir Mitchell

3. The Rest Cure The rest cure (also known as the bed rest cure) was a
nineteenth century mental
health treatment created
by Dr. Weir Mitchell, a
famed nerve specialist.
The treatment called for
the patient to undergo bed
rest from four weeks to two
months; to be secluded
from family and friends,
only seeing her
doctor/nurse; to not use
her hands creatively; and to
be fed a diet of fatty dairy
products.

4. Gilman’s Social Criticism of the Rest Cure
Gilman speaks of her mental illness: “…I suffered from a severe
and continuous nervous breakdown…. This wise man [Dr.
Weir Mitchell] put me to bed and applied the rest cure…. I
went home and obeyed those directions for some three
months, and came so near the borderline of utter mental ruin
that I could see over” (Literature: An Introduction to Fiction,
Poetry, Drama, and Writing ).
“…[I] sent a copy to the physician who so nearly drove me mad.
He never acknowledged it. …Many years later I was told that
the great specialist had admitted to friends of his that he had
altered his treatment since reading ‘The Yellow Wallpaper.’
[The story] was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save
people from being driven crazy, and it worked” (Literature: An
Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 448).