The Path to Madness in the Yellow WallpaperIn the late 1800s/early 1900s, when Charlotte Perkins Gilman experienced her episode of "temporary nervous depression" (Gilman 885), and wrote in his autobiographical story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," the workings of the mind were a mystery that few doctors attempted to investigate. One patient who was poor and poorly educated and showed signs of mental disorder was institutionalized - ala Bedlam. The patient, rich, educated and/or from a "good family", was defined as eccentric and was prescribed complete mental rest and controlled physical exercise combined with the consumption of phosphorus-enriched tonics. This regimen had to be followed in an environment that allowed the patient to ingest large quantities of fresh, clean air (Gilman 885, 886). In her retrospective, the author was able to present a frighteningly frank view of the ineffectiveness of the latter treatment model. Gilman's heroine's adventure into madness began with the onset of postpartum depression. This fairly common side effect of childbirth comes at the time in her life when the woman (according to society) should be her happiest and most satisfied self. However, with her mind suffering from the effects of her body's frantic attempt to realign its chemical components into a balanced state, the new mother is confronted with moods that are the antithesis of the euphoria she is told should try. This juxtaposition of expected and experienced emotions can create tremendous guilt in a woman, even a very strong woman. To mitigate this guilt, the mind may develop a psychosis, such as delusional disorder. Mrs. Gilman was very insightful in looking at her... middle of paper... this case - unlit) treatment, which was progressing to dementia. And she created this scenario years, if not decades, before medical science understood the relationship between the various parts of her heroine's—and her own—path to madness. Works Cited Danford, Darla Erhard. "Pica and nutrition". Annual Nutrition Review Number 2 (1982): 303 - 322.Decker, Chris J., MD, FRSCS. "Pica in the mentally disabled: a 15-year surgical perspective." Canadian Journal of Surgery 36.6 (1993): 551 - 554.DSM - IV Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. 290 - 301. Gilmore, Charlotte Perkins. "The yellow background." Being and becoming. Anne Mills King and Sandra Kurtinitis, editors. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1987. 886 - 892.