The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story of a woman who is battling depression. Her husband, a caring physician, takes what he considers to be every measure to help her. They go on vacation where she is depraved of all stimuli and forced into bed. This is a story of a treatment that is killing it's patient. She just wants to escape from that room and studying the patterns on the wallpaper takes up a lot of her time, as she lays in bed. As time passes her conditions worsens, reality and fantasy blur and she believes that she is trapped in the wallpaper pattern itself. The story culminates with her escape; escape from the reality she refuses to live in into a world of madness.
The story is very autobiographical for Gilman. As she battled with post-partum depression she was forced by her husband to see a doctor. At the time psychology was in it's infancy and she was given the diagnosis of neurasthenia, very common in middle class women of that time. Much like her character she was forced into bed, relieved of all her responsibilities and prescribed rest. Her biggest problem with the treatment, which the character also had to endure was the doctor's insistance that she stop writing. She believed that writing was the only thing that could carry her through the agony of those difficult times.
Of course today's techniques of dealing with depression are very different. Patrients are encouraged to participate in their normal daily activities as much as possible and writing is considered a therapeutic tool. Charlotte Perkins Gilman had to discover that on her own while being forced to take a stance against her doctor and overprotective husband. She fought on to become an important figure in the women's movement, shining light on the problems of the "happy housewife" and advocating against the "Rest Treatment" for neurasthenia described in this story.