Episode 43: The Yellow Wallpaper and The Horror of The Dismissive Physician

After the birth of her daughter in 1885, Charlotte Perkins Gilman suffered from severe postpartum depression. This led her to Doctor Silas Weir Mitchell, one of the most prominent neurologists of his time and a pioneer of the once popular rest cure. Two years after her divorce and three years after the treatment, in 1892, Charlotte wrote one of her most well known works: The Yellow Wallpaper. A story about a woman led into madness after being prescribed the rest cure by none other than her physician husband.

Welcome back, children, to another Crow episode. Today we're taking a look at an important piece of horror and weird fiction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper. In doing so, we're also going to be taking a look at a rather difficult subject that many have struggled with. What happens when your medical concerns are dismissed by the medical community? What is the history behind this? How can we improve so that we don't keep slipping between the cracks? Buckle in, because we're in for a longwinded ride!

Intro music: Beeckmans: Hymne for Theremin, Oboe, String Quartet and Piano (2018) - The Alba Septet (Listen to the whole thing on youtube, you'll thank us later).

Outro music: Magic Hour by Three Chain Links

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References:

https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/isabella-beecher-hooker/

https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/catharine-beecher

https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/harriet-beecher-stowe/uncle-toms-cabin/

https://connecticuthistory.org/charlotte-perkins-gilman/

‘Why I wrote The Yellow Wallpaper? ’, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman : an autobiography

The diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/488986#:~:text=The%20name%20hysteria%20is%20derived,Celsus%2C%20Arataeus%2C%20and%20Soranus.