Georgina Paez
10/21/2020
FIQWS: Psychopathology in Literature, Writing Section

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Shirley Perkins tells the story of a young new mother who is ill. Her husband, John, takes her to an extravagent house for their summer vacation. John doesn’t seem to take her illness as seriously as she would like him to, as he claims she’s simply suffering from nervous depression. To treat this condition, he makes her abstain from too much physical activity like writing or working, even though she doesn’t want to. The main character decides to hide a journal from him, where she expresses herself; it is through this journal that we get to analyze her mental health throughout the story.

In this piece, the main character suffers from Postpartum depression and Postpartum Psychosis. An article called “Postpartum depression: what you should know” by WebmD, defines Postpartum Depression as, “It’s the type of depression you may get after you have a baby. It can start any time during your baby’s first year, but it’s most common for you to start to feel its effects during the first 3 weeks after birth.” The symptoms for Postpartum depression include mood swings, depressed mood, intense irritability or anger, hard time bonding with one’s child, low energy, fear of not being a good mother, restlessness, anxiety, and hopelessness (etc). As mentioned before, the main character is a new mother, which makes her prone to Postpartum Depression. The text states, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive…We have been here two weeks and I haven’t felt like writing before, since that first day… But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing. John does not know how much I really suffer. It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way. I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort and here I am a comparative burden already. Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able,—to dress and entertain and order things. It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby ! and yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous.” (Pg. 649) Here we see the main character display many of the symptoms of Postpartum depression. She explains feeling much more irritable with her husband than before, as well as loss of energy to the point where she didn’t feel like writing for two weeks. She struggles to do simple tasks like getting dressed and presents feelings of guilt and shame, as she claims to feel bad or like a burden about not being able to help John as much as she should due to her depression. She also expresses feelings of anxiety over her job as a mom, as she explains that not being able to be with her child displeases her and makes her feel tense. 

Moreover, postpartum psychosis is very similar to postpartum depression, as it also affects new mothers, however it is much more rare and it’s symptoms/effects are very different. According to an article called, “Postpartum Psychosis” by Postpartum Support International, the symptoms of Postpartum Psychosis include, “Delusions or strange beliefs, Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that aren’t there), Feeling very irritated, Hyperactivity, Decreased need for or inability to sleep, Paranoia and suspiciousness, Rapid mood swings, and Difficulty communicating at times.” While at the beginning of the story, the main character from “The Yellow Wallpaper” shows signs of Postpartum Depression, her environmental factors end up worsening her mental health, eventually leading to Postpartum Psychosis. John played a big role in her development of Postpartum Psychosis because he wasn’t giving her the right treatment for her Postpartum Depression. When someone, especially a new mother, is going through such a hard time, emotional support is very important, instead John would often leave her alone while he went off to work. The text states “ I cry at nothing and cry most of the time. Of course I don’t when John is here, or anybody else, but when I am alone. And I am alone a good deal just now. John is kept in town very often by serious cases… I lie here on this great immovable bed— it is nailed down, I believe— and follow that pattern by the hour” (Pg. 650). From the beginning of the story, the main character expresses to John her dislike for the room he had chosen, especially because of the yellow wallpaper within the room. Instead of changing the room, John ignored her and laughed it off. These factors only triggered her illness more, which we began seeing through her obsession with the yellow wallpaper.

 At first the main character simply felt dislike and intense anxious feelings for the yellow wallpaper. One could say she was being overly dramatic, however when we take in consideration her illness we understand why she was so irritated with the wallpaper. Then, as the story goes on her obsession grows stronger, due to the psychosis developing, from the lack of treatment she was receiving for her postpartum depression.” The text states, “It is a very bad habit I am convinced. For you see I don’t sleep” (Pg. 653). The main character’s ability to sleep worsened, as she would stay up at night to simply stare at the wallpaper for hours. The text also states, “ I caught Jenny with her hand on it once… I asked her… what she was doing with the paper… Then she said that the paper stained everything it touched… Did not that sound innocent? But I know she was studying that pattern, and I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself.” (Pg. 653) The main character accuses John and Jenny of studying the wallpaper. In this quote, when she confronts Jennie about it, Jennie gives her an honest innocent answer, but the main character acts paranoid/suspicious and doesn’t believe her. Lack of sleep and paranoia are highly common symptoms of Postpartum psychosis. To add on, she states, “I don’t like to look out of the windows even – there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast…I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?” (Pg. 656) She claims to see women creeping in and out of the wallpaper, which were obvious delusions and hallucinations. These are also signs of Postpartum Psychosis, as by the end of the story the main character has lost it, seeing hallucinations with the wallpaper, creeping around her room and believing that she’s one of the trapped women in the wallpaper who came out.