Mental illness is the product of a combination of factors. Some people have a predisposition toward symptoms of social anxiety, but no one is born with a mental illness. Rather, a mental illness is developed from the combination of one’s environment and any predisposition he or she has toward anxiety symptoms (Social Anxiety). Doctors’ understanding of mental health has greatly progressed in the last century. In the late 1800s, society trivialized mental illness and prescribed isolation to individuals dealing with depression and anxiety; however, society today is aware of the importance of properly acknowledging and treating mental illness. John recognizes that his wife is ill and needs treatment, but he belittles the severity of her state and ignores her own concerns about her condition. From the beginning …show more content…
While the narrator is aware of extent of her illness, her husband “does not believe [she is] sick!” (Gilman 14). Although he is a physicians, John does not believe his own wife when she tells him he is ill. Despite the narrator’s personal belief of her condition, her husband projects his own opinion as the right one. When John “assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency-” the narrator loses her credibility as a patient because her husband is a doctor and knows best (Gilman 16-18). The narrator is sure that her sickness is worse than her husband publically claims it to be, yet she does not contradict him because society during her time expects the wife to maintain a subservient demeanor. The narrator explains that her husband “knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 89-90). Because John does not understand what ails his wife, he curtails the