Postpartum Depression in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Postpartum Depression in The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the unnamed

protagonist is suffering from postpartum depression, which is caused by the

rapid changes in levels of hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and

thyroid due to the birth of a child. This depression can be brought on by

stress and isolation right after birth. In this short story the protagonist was

brushed of by her husband John, who is a medical doctor as having a

temporary nervous condition. In this situation, if the protagonist was

effectively treated instead of being isolated, which allowed the depression to

escalate to a severe form, she would have steadily gotten better. Instead

the protagonist began to develop postpartum psychosis, which is the most

severe postpartum reaction. During this time “woman will experience a break

with reality which may include the experience of hallucinations and/or

delusions. Other symptoms may include severe insomnia, agitation, and

bizarre feelings and behavior” (Depression After Delivery, Inc. 3).

“The Yellow Wallpaper” takes place in the late eighteen hundreds when

psychological disorders were dismissed as temporary nervous conditions, and

unless there was something physically wrong with the person, the individual

had to be isolated from any stimulating activities. Isolation seemed to be

the best antidote for psychological disorders in the late eighteen hundreds,

although, it only made the disorder worse. John only worsens his wife’s

disorder by taking her away for the summer and placing her in an old house

that is “quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from

the village” (Barrett 193). John once again isolates his wife from any

stimulating activities and forbids her to work...”and am absolutely forbidden

to “work” until I am well again” (Barrett 192). The protagonist personally

disagrees with their ideas when she states, “that congenial work, with

excitement and change would do me good” (Barrett 192). John did not allow

her to write either, although, “[she] did write for a while in spite of them”

(Barrett 193), but she did not dare let John or his sister Jennie catch her

writing.

One of the first symptoms of postpartum psychosis is the experience of

hallucinations, which are “sensory perceptual distortions, such as seeing,

hearing, smelling, feeling or tasting sensations that others would not sense

and do not exist outside of ones perception” (Depression After Delivery, Inc.

3) and delusions, which are false fixed beliefs. The protagonist begins to get

hallucinations/delusions when she unwillingly accepts the upstairs nursery

instead of the downstairs room that opened into a piazza and had roses all