What Is The Postpartum Depression In The Yellow Wallpaper

“The Yellow Wallpaper”: Lack of Understanding Postpartum Depression

“The Yellow Wall-Paper” is a story about a woman suffering from neurasthenia, what we now know as postpartum depression. The only treatment available to her was total isolation and rest which eventually drove her to insanity. The narrator tells us of an oppressed woman who is forced into solitude and required to stay in bed. She is isolated from society, unable to have contact with her baby or do the things she loves. She is confined to an attic room with walls covered in sickly yellow wallpaper the windows and door are barred. Left alone with no other outlet of creativity or socialization she has only the light, shadows and wallpaper to pass her days. This story shows the real impact that postpartum depression, isolation and lack of understanding of this condition causes greater harm.

It is considered “normal” for women to suffer from some form of “baby blues”. Recent research show that nearly 80% of women suffer from some type of postpartum depression in the first two weeks after giving birth. However, only about 10% of women experience major depressive episodes, that without treatment can lead to bigger psychological issues Postpartum depression was first diagnosed by Hippocrates in the fourth century B.C. While his medical reasoning behind the causes of the depression can now be seen as odd, we can see that the condition has been around for thousands of years. In the Middle Ages women with postpartum depression were often thought to be witches

“The treatment is intended, in other words to deal with physical symptoms of overwork and fatigue, and so is the empiricist who “scoffs openly at things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures,” John (physician/husband character in “The Yellow Wallpaper”) wants to deal only with the physical causes and effects: if his wife’s symptoms are nervousness and weight-loss, the treatment must be undisturbed tranquility and good nutrition.”