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19th Century Hysteria

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Hysteria: A Study on The Position of Women in The Nineteenth Century For generations there has been a power struggle between men and women. Social institutions, gender norms, and traditional roles are put in place to protect the existing power structure. For as long as these establishments have existed there have been those who oppose it. One example would be women in the 19th century who wanted to educate themselves and not start a family. These women frightened the establishment and made them feel uncomfortable. In response, the medical field did their best to categorize these women as mentally ill. They developed a disease called hysteria which ostracised any free thinking or unconventional women . How society thought of …show more content…

In 1873, Mitchell first presented the rest cure as a treatment for hysteria that took over patients lives. Suzanne Poirier in her article, The Weir Mitchell Rest Cure: Doctor and Patient, quotes Mitchell in saying "you cure the body and somehow find the mind is also cured."(17) She further analyzes the rest cure and breaks it down into five parts; "rest, seclusion, food, massage [and] electricity,"(20) with rest being the main component. In most cases patient were removed from their homes to ensure perfect rest. If they were not able to leave a nurse was brought in to watch over them.(20) Additionally, being removed from the home helped keep the women secluded, allowing them to forget their worries. Piorier goes on to reveal that diet is as important as rest. She says "milk was always central and often the only ingredient" (21) in a patient's meal plan. The amount of milk and what kind depended on the woman's weight. Finally, massage and electricity were treated as the least important aspect of Mitchell's plan and was often eliminated.(21) Granted some women felt better after receiving the rest cure because it took them away from the stress at home. However, for women with a mental illness, as we understand it now, or who were fine mentally ut, rejected the idea of gender roles, the rest cure was a jail sentence. The confinement and isolation was enough to break the spirit of even the strongest

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He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 232). He paid no attention to her opinions or thoughts and dismissed them by presenting himself as a doctor and that he knew the cause of her problem. Her husband believed, since no reason for her to be sick was present, his interpretation offered him satisfaction, rather than ask his wife how she felt. S. Weir Mitchell in “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment,” claimed that a woman went into his office in search of someone that could help her. She expressed her concern by mentioning “please do not send me to go to bed” (Mitchell 245).

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Medication initially was used as chemical restraint to make patients calm and compliant just like in the film. Other treatments were abused and used as punishment especially ECT. Most patients were terrified of ECT and the threat alone exerted control. Much of the stigma even today about ECT stems from the scene where the electroshock therapy is used as a violent and inhumane punishment for McMurphy as the audience watches while he convulses and thrashes in pain. ECT was physically dangerous when first developed.

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The media often framed the use of ECT as part of a grand battle against mental illness, and in viewing treatment this way, side effects or dangers of treatment were seen as somewhat inevitable quote-unquote “casualties” of this fight (Hirshbein & Sarvananda 4). Further, evidence of ECT’s success represented a triumph of man and science over seemingly incurable disease, a feat so magnificent it made people more willing to dismiss potential consequences. From the point of view of practitioners, ECT benefited them significantly in multiple ways. First, their success and the idea that they were able to cure such a seemingly hopeless condition improved the reputation of psychiatry as whole. Its tendency to calm erratic patients also bettered the atmosphere of psychiatric hospitals, as the patients undergoing this treatment were often violent or dangers to themselves (Hirshbein 149).

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Depression and isolation caused by the misdiagnosis caused Jane to go insane. The rest treatment was a common form of cure for people with depression. It worked for some people while it did not work for some. Instead of curing the depression, it only sends the patients into further depression and isolation.

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