John Doe
Professor Martin
English 1302
11 November 2004 A short essay that can give some ideas
Gilman’s Insane Narrator
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” delves into the mind of a severely depressed woman that gradually slips out of reality and becomes mad. Perhaps it is because of Gilman’s past experience with depression that helps her depict such an accurate story of someone suffering from this mental disease. The narrator’s characteristics of a clinically depressed patient, while sometimes subtle, can be identified in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the main character is improperly diagnosed with a nervous disorder and thus improperly treated which leads to her insanity. As the story progresses, the narrator goes from having a major depressive and dysthymic disorder, to a manic disorder, and finally to schizophrenia.
We learn from the narrator’s first journal entry that she has been diagnosed with a nervous disorder. People with a nervous disorder do resemble the same personality traits as someone suffering from depression, such as: stomach disturbances, sleep difficulties, and easy tearfulness (American Psychiatric Association 847). These same symptoms are also found in the narrator, so this could likely be the reason that her husband incorrectly diagnoses her with a nervous disorder. As we find out later in the story, the treatment she undertakes for her depression only worsens her mental state. However, first let us examine the narrator leading up to her manic episodes. 
	Since we are able to read the narrator’s journal entries, we can gather information that doctors, like her husband, were not aware of. With these entries the reader can pick up on more specific details that will eventually lead us to proper diagnoses the narrator. Take for instance the fact that she loses interest in writing in her journal over a period of time. This is something only the reader can pick up on, as her journal is kept secret from everyone else. Another good example, which is found in her writings, is that she feels guilty and worthless because of her prolonged sickness. These two logs are very important because the lost of interest and the feelings of self-guilt and worthlessness are common in people suffering from severe depressive disorders (American Psychiatric Association 327). Therefore, we are able to deduce that our narrator is suffering from an acute case of depression which we will later see develop into a multitude of mental disorders.
In addition, we find that the narrator is suffering from a dysthymic disorder. A dysthymic disorder lasts over a year and the patient is depressed more days than not. Due to the insights from her journal, we know that her “nervous disorder” begins around the time of her child’s birth, so it is safe to assume this has lasted over a year. Over this time persons suffering with a dysthymic disorders rarely see a day without symptoms of low self-esteem, low energy, poor appetite, and insomnia, according to the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (American Psychiatric Association 349). Because of our insight, we see that the narrator progresses through her days with many of these symptoms. Her lethargic day is usually spent staring out over the villa or trying to find a pattern in the yellow wallpaper. Because of her poor mental health and secluded lifestyle the narrator begins to have behavioral manifestations. The ladies she sees creeping around the villa and trapped in the wallpaper are delusions due to her seclusion. It is common practice that seclusion should be part of patients’ treatment for nervous disorders, although this leads to instability with people suffering from depression (Beck 130). The dysthymic disorder is the first ailment the narrator suffers from because of the wrong treatment for her depression. 
No paper discussing the human psyche can be complete without Freud popping up. According to Paul McHugh, “Freud evoked a conflict between, on the one hand, brain-generated drives and, on the other hand, socially-imposed prohibitions on the expression and satisfaction of those same drives.” This was part of Freud’s “dynamic unconscious” that he believed produced mental and behavioral abnormalities (McHugh). In the turning point of the “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator brings this very conflict onto herself. The narrator begins to see the women being trapped behind the wallpaper unable to free themselves. Just as the women want to be free so does the narrator. This is because the narrator has a plethora of needs to be free of, such as her sickness, the need to be free to see her child, and go outside of her house. As the end of the story draws near, we can see that her mental state has brought about these manifestations and she is beginning to slip out of reality. This leads us up to her manic episode.
	Because of the narrator being misdiagnosed she begins to have several manic episodes. These manic episodes are quite different from nervous disorders and are easily identified. In her journals, we find that she is easily distracted by the yellow wallpaper and is agitated by its design at times. This fascination with the wallpaper lasts for well over a week and is coupled with racing thoughts and distractibility all classic signs of a manic episode (American Psychiatric Association 332).  These episodes lead to her over obsession with the wallpaper and ultimately to her schizophrenia. This is evident as the final part of the story ends with the narrator trapping herself in the room with the yellow wallpaper. Her delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and inappropriate emotional expressions are all evident upon her husband entering the room (Nathan et al. 163).
	In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator’s mental illness is simply not properly classified. According to John Ratey and Catherine Johnson, mental illness is a biological disturbance in the brain, and once the patient is diagnosed they can be treated. Both Dr. Ratey and Dr. Johnson believe that persons faced with severe mental illnesses need to develop insight. If the person can see him/herself as there loved ones see them then they can work with the doctor and loved ones to create tools to short-circuit his or her biologically based response to daily life (“Mental Illness” 47-52). Maybe if the story would go further we would see that the narrator goes to the proper psychiatrist and to get the proper treatment that she now needs, but perhaps Gilman is sparing us from the gruesome tells of a partial lobotomy. Regardless, Gilman does a remarkable job in creating a character that goes through three different severe mental illnesses.

 Works Cited
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 
Disorders, Forth Edition. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association,
1994.
Beck, Aaron T. Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: New
American Library, 1976.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. John Schlib and John Clifford. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2003. 858-61. 
“Mental Illness.” Opposing Viewpoints Series. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2000.
McHugh, Paul R. “How Psychiatry Lost Its Way.” Commentary December 1, 1999, Vol.
108, Issue 5. Academic Search Premier. 1 Nov. 2003 <http://web25.epnet.com/>.
Nathan, Peter E. et al. Treating Mental Disorders. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.