Georgina Paez
10/22/2020
FIQWS: Psychopathology in Literature, Writing Section
In my analysis of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Shirley Perkins, I stated that the main character of the story suffers from Postpartum Depression and Postpartum Psychosis. I have gathered three sources to support this claim. For starters, Postpartum depression is a mental illness that affects new mothers and can have various emotional/mental symptoms like mood swings, sadness and loss of energy. An article titled “Postpartum Depression” by Donna E. Stewart, C.M., M.D.,and Simone Vigod, M.D., offers the story and perspective of a victim who was diagnosed with Postpartum depression. The article states, “A 28-year-old single mother of a 3-month-old son reports severe fatigue, general loss of interest, irritability, poor concentration, insomnia, low energy, and tearfulness that have lasted for 2 months. She had similar symptoms for several weeks when she was 18 years of age and again in mid-pregnancy, but her symptoms resolved spontaneously on those occasions. She is not suicidal or psychotic but feels that she cannot cope.” This mother who in real life suffers from this condition reports similar symptoms to the ones that the main character from “The Yellow Wallpaper” expresses. The same way the 28 year old woman from the article explains feeling irritability, the main character demonstrates this feeling through emotions of intense annoyance with her husband, John, and the yellow wallpaper in her room. In addition, similar to the woman in real life, the main character also reports crying when she’s alone, loss of interest at times, like when she didn’t feel like writing for two weeks, and low energy, such as when she explained how hard it was for her to complete simple tasks like getting dressed.
Moreover, as explained in my analysis, the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” begins by exhibiting signs of Postpartum depression, but because of her environmental factors and lack of proper treatment, her condition worsens and shifts to Postpartum Psychosis. Postpartum Psychosis is very rare and similar to Postpartum depression, however the symptoms include delusions and hallucinations. An article called, “Postpartum psychosis in Sturge-Weber syndrome: A case report” by Anantprakash Saraf, Sneh Babhulkar, and Vivek Joge, discusses this mental illness and shares with us the story of a 45 year old woman with Postpartum Psychosis. The article states, “A 45-year-old female presented with acute onset of suspiciousness, irritability, aggression, and sleep disturbance, 1 day after she delivered her second child. She was fearful and afraid that people around her are trying to harm her baby and are talking about planning to kidnap her baby. She was refusing to cooperate with medical care and alleged that the staff was also trying to harm her by giving dangerous medications. Despite her apprehensions and fears, she was ignoring the care of her newborn and trying to flee away from the hospital.” The actions that the woman from the article carried out were driven by paranoia, delusions, anxiety and suspiciousness. All of these factors are symptoms of Postpartum Psychosis. Once again we see the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” display similar symptoms. As the story progressed, she became more obsessed with the yellow wallpaper and became very paranoid/suspicious that anybody in the home would try to solve the pattern before she did. She also had trouble sleeping, and at one point got up in the middle of the night when her husband was asleep simply to touch the wallpaper.
To add on, a scientific article called, “A Review of Postpartum Psychosis” by Dorothy Sit, Anthony J. Rothschild Katherine L. Wisner, gives us another story of a real life woman suffering from Postpartum Psychosis. The article states, “Ms. A. is a 27-year-old physician who delivered her baby 7 days before evaluation at a teaching hospital. She underwent an uncomplicated delivery, and her baby boy was full term and healthy…Within 2 days of delivery, she told her husband that she thought he was poisoning her food and that the baby was staring at her strangely. She thought she smelled horses and heard them galloping out-side her bedroom. She could not fall asleep even when her mother came to the house to care for their newborn and allow the patient to rest. At home, Ms. A. was able to sleep only 2–3 hours nightly. Her husband noticed that she would gaze out the windows in their apartment for hours without explanation… She required much help in simple tasks, such as diapering her baby. She expressed guilt about being a terrible mother.” Ms. A’s experiences and events are very similar to those of the main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” For example, as mentioned in my analysis, the main character had accused her husband and Jennie: her baby’s caresitter, of attempting to touch or stare at the wallpaper, similar to Ms. A who accused her husband of trying to poison her food. Like Ms. A claimed to see and hear horses, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” the main character claimed to see many women creeping out of the wallpaper at night, which were only hallucinations. Jennie had to take care of the main character’s baby, which the main character said made her feel guilty since she couldn’t be the one to care for her child, just like how Ms. A claimed to feel like a bad mother. In the story, the main character wrote about staying up for hours just staring and trying to figure out the pattern of the wallpaper, which relates to how Ms. A barely had any sleep and was often found by her husband staring out the window for hours without a reason. Perkins’ “The Yellow Wallpaper” offers many examples of Postpartum Depression and Postpartum Psychosis through the main character, which as seen in this research, are very applicable to the real world.
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