Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Effects of Bipolar Disorder

Charlotte Perkins Gilman lived a life full of ambition and revolutionary ideas; she contributed to many movements that helped change history. Gilman also battled with Bipolar disorder and experienced a psychotic breakdown brought on by postpartum psychosis. Her mental health suffered the greatest during her time living in a domesticated style, as a wife and mother. She thrived during her periods of writing, participating in radical movements and being able to live without dependents.

Gilman was born in 1860 and could be described as a radical feminist in a time when women kept house and raised children. She is attributed to the development of a “kitchen-less home, socialization of housekeeping and child care” (Historic World Leaders, 1994 p. 1). However she married and had a child. Ultimately her radical goals and domestic house life lead to her psychotic downfall.

Gilman’s fear of domestic life began in childhood when her neglectful father abandoned the her family. Her mother responded by denying affection, fearing “that it would weaken her daughter's character and give her an inflated sense of security” (Historic World Leaders, 1994 p. 2). Gilman fought to become educated and was able to build a life and support herself as a single woman.

Filled with shame and fear from her parents’ divorce Gilman was weary to accept the multiple proposals of suitor Charles Walter Stetson, eventually agreeing in 1885 after her closest friend became married (Historic World Leaders, 1994). The union was described as unsatisfying and a great factor in Gilman’s breakdown (American Biography, 1944). They had their first and only child in 1886, which can be seen as turning point in Gilman’s mental health.

The pregnancy was filled with illnes...

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...sis, and bipolar disorder and use them to create a scary look inside to the mind of a mentally unsound person. Gilman’s story changed the way S. Weir Mitchell treated women with her condition, which he later confided in friends. Gilman was being pushed over the edge by the treatment for Postpartum Psychosis, that combined with the highs and lows of bi-polar disorder left her in a very untreatable state.

Gilman lived a full and successful life, helping many people but unfortunately experienced periods that created distress which triggered the symptoms of her Bipolar disorder to flare. Fears stemming from her youth about becoming overly domestic along with the treatment of mentally ill women during that time added to the distress and left her in a vicious cycle of highs and low, leaving her unable to take hold of her illness and fully live the life she desired.