Anne Stiles, “The Rest Cure, 1873-1925” Abstract This essay discusses the rest cure, a popular treatment for nervous illness pioneered by Philadelphia neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell in the 1860s and ‘70s. Emphasis will be placed on the spread of the cure to Britain and the role of the rest cure in literature.
When did the rest cure become popular?
The rest cure that Mitchell pioneered rose to surprising popularity in the late 1800s, and several physicians adopted and practiced the treatment for decades. Only later did it become a textbook example of the disturbing nonlinearity of American medical progress, the quackery that can live alongside rigorous medical innovation.
What does the rest cure symbolize in the rest cure?
Gilman’s short story highlighted the rest cure as a symbol of the paternalistic nature of 19th-century medicine and the suppression of female creativity. Yet reading the careful instructions and closely observed case studies of the physicians using this new therapy, one is touched by their enthusiasm.
Was the rest cure a better way of Conducting Women’s treatment?
The rest cure led to the disastrous result and therefore was not a better way of conducting the women’s treatment. It was a way of mistreating a woman and not allowing them to experience the joy of society.
What happened to the rest of the cure for diseases?
The diseases for which the rest cure was typically prescribed, neurasthenia and hysteria, also fell out of favor during these decades, to be replaced by more specific diagnoses such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, etc. These changes reflected a broader shift in scientific culture.
When was Charlotte Perkins Gilman prescribed the rest cure?
While she had often been melancholy growing up, motherhood and married life pushed Gilman to the edge. She sought treatment for her “nervous prostration” with Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell of Philadelphia and in 1887 took the controversial “Rest Cure,” a treatment that included extensive bed rest, that he had pioneered.
Where did rest cure originate?
As a remedy, neurologist S. Weir Mitchell, a wealthy and influential Philadelphia neurologist, created the rest cure, a regimen of forced bed rest, restricted diet, and a combination of massage and electrical muscle stimulation in place of exercise.
What is the Victorian rest cure?
Based in a patriarchal power model, the “rest cure” presumed that the physician was the ultimate authority to whom the female patient must defer. The male doctor lording authority over his female patient was in keeping with the social views of women in Woolf's day.
What was the rest cure in the Yellow Wallpaper?
Gilman was treated with the “rest cure”, devised by Mitchell, as is the protagonist of the story; like an infant, she was dosed, fed at regular intervals and above all ordered to rest. Mitchell instructed Gilman to live as domestic a life as possible “and never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live”.
Who was primarily prescribed the rest cure?
The cure, which was prescribed almost exclusively for women, had three core elements: isolation, rest, and feeding, with electrotherapy and massage added to counteract muscle atrophy. While Mitchell outlined his methods in Fat and Blood , he and many other neurologists refined the details as time went by.
Was the rest cure sexist?
Therefore, the Rest Cure was shaped by the ideals outlined by what we now call the Cult of Domesticity. As a result of these sexist ideas, the Rest Cure did not cure the severe depression felt by women during this time period but in some women only worsened their condition.
When did the Victorian era end?
June 20, 1837 – January 22, 1901Victorian era / PeriodJan. 22, 1901: Queen Victoria dies on the Isle of Wight at age 81, ending the Victorian Era. She is succeeded by Edward VII, her eldest son, who reigned until his death in 1910.
What time period is The Yellow Wallpaper set in?
A short story set in New England in the 1880s; published in 1892. A woman suffering from depression is subjected to a “Rest Cure.” Relegated to an isolated country house and forbidden to work or exercise, she goes insane.
How was mental illness treated in the 1800s?
In early 19th century America, care for the mentally ill was almost non-existent: the afflicted were usually relegated to prisons, almshouses, or inadequate supervision by families. Treatment, if provided, paralleled other medical treatments of the time, including bloodletting and purgatives.
Why is the rest cure prescribed to Jane?
In addition to narcotics, Mitchell prescribed a rest cure to calm them and limit movement that would keep them from healing. The cure involved four basic elements: bed rest, force-feeding and overfeeding, massage, and electrical stimulation of the muscles.
Does the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper have a name?
The Name Jane: Origin We only read the name Jane once in ''The Yellow Wallpaper,'' and this is at the very end. When John finally gets into the room and finds his wife creeping around on the floor with the wallpaper in tatters, she says to him: ''I've got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you and Jane.
When did the rest cure become popular?
The rest cure that Mitchell pioneered rose to surprising popularity in the late 1800s, and several physicians adopted and practiced the treatment for decades. Only later did it become a textbook example of the disturbing nonlinearity of American medical progress, the quackery that can live alongside rigorous medical innovation.
How long does it take to get a rest cure?
The rest cure usually entailed six to eight weeks of “absolute bed rest.” Public Domain
Why did Mitchell believe women should use their minds?
But using their minds so extensively, Mitchell believed, could easily deplete their energy and fry their fragile nerves.
What was the antidote to the dude ranch?
For men, the antidote was simple: Go West, chop some wood, maybe even cook some mannish meat over a rip-roaring fire. In a way, it was the 19th-century, professionally-prescribed analogue to a trip to the dude ranch. But the cure was not quite so simple for women.
Does Mitchell use bed rest?
But bed rest was only one aspect of the treatment. Mitchell prescribed his patients frequent “massages” to stimulate the muscles without exhausting them. These, however, were incredibly vigorous and were likely far from relaxing. “The whole belly is shaken by a rapid vibratory motion of the hands,” writes Mitchell, “to which is sometimes added succussion by slapping with the flat or cupped hand.” Massage could be supplemented with the passage of an electric current through the leg muscles, belly, back, and loins, apparently to stimulate muscles and provide what he referred to as “painless exercise.”
Did Lambe say that women could never have afforded private psychiatric care?
Lambe points out that there were countless women, often immigrants or from poor populations, who could never have afforded private psychiatric care. Instead, these women often ended up in public asylums, or received no care at all, and their suffering and part in the history of American psychiatry stayed out of sight.
Is Lambe's cure so far behind us?
But the core idea behind the cure, Lambe suggests, is not so far behind us. “You can find analogues in today’s wellness culture,” she says, “such as the retreat, where you remove yourself from all the things that are ailing you, eat a very specific, austere diet, and reboot.”
What was Mitchell's treatment for neurasthenics?
At the time, “neurasthenia” was a catch-all diagnosis for the host of nonpsychotic emotional disorders that were not understood and not responsive to medical therapies.
What are the three core elements of the Fat and Blood cure?
The cure, which was prescribed almost exclusively for women, had three core elements: isolation, rest, and feeding, with electrotherapy and massage added to counteract muscle atrophy. While Mitchell outlined his methods in Fat and Blood , he and many other neurologists refined the details as time went by.
Who invented the rest cure?
The history of the rest cure. This cure was invented towards the end of the 19th century by Silas Weir Mitchell, who was an American neurosurgeon and became widely used in both USA and the UK in the early 20th century.
Why is rest cure important?
Rest cure had a lot of significance in the treatment of a psychological disorder in an individual. It is not to be associated with particular sex since it helps to cure both the female and the male genders from brain injuries and other psychological disorders.
What is the yellow cure?
In the yellow wallpaper, the husband of the narrator prescribes to her something which is referred to as yellow cure , even though this rest cure is not explicitly mentioned in the yellow wallpaper. His husband, John, who is a doctor, has diagnosed her with a nervous condition or a mild hysterical tendency.
Was Mitchell's period a disease?
However, during Mitchell’s period, the condition was purely a disease and was known to affect women exclusively. Mitchell, developed several crude misconceptions about the situation and therefore he was known to be very unsympathetic to patients who he diagnosed with the case in the use of rest cure.
What is the rest cure?
In theory, the rest cure was meant to relieve women of psychological ills and leave them fit to tend to their families and homes. In practice, though many patients were charmed by Mitchell and some found it helpful, the treatment prescribed women to the roles society laid out for them, leaving no room for other ambitions. Kate Zambreno’s 2012 book Heroines gives voice to the type of woman who might have been silenced by the rest cure: the talented wives of famous literary men. Zambreno says diagnoses were an easy way to label and dismiss these women, as with Zelda Fitzgerald, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia and later died when her asylum caught fire, and Vivienne Eliot, who also died while institutionalized. The same is true of Mitchell’s patients, who were isolated, unable to write, voiceless. “Never touch pen, brush, or pencil as long as you live,” he wrote in Gilman’s prescription, which she followed for several months before realizing such inactivity would never lead to recovery. She later wrote, “The mental agony grew so unbearable that I would sit blankly moving my head from side to side.”
What did Anne Stiles say about the West cure?
The West cure wasn’t the only medical remedy that considered exposure to nature restorative.
What did Mitchell discover?
Mitchell gained a fair amount of notoriety for this work at Philadelphia’s Turner Lane Hospital; he helped discover causalgia, a rare pain syndrome related to nerve injuries, as well as the phantom limb phenomenon.
What is Jane Austen's fondness for?
Jane Austen’s fondness for the restorative powers of the sea are well-documented. In her unfinished novel Sanditon, she extolls the ocean’s virtues, writing that “the sea-air and sea-bathing together were nearly infallible; one or other of them being a match for every disorder of the stomach, the lungs, or the blood.”.
Who was Mitchell's patient?
The feminist writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman was perhaps Mitchell’s best-known patient, as well as one of his harshest critics. She fictionalized her treatment in the now-infamous story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” wherein the protagonist, confined to the bedroom, slowly descends into madness.
When was the watering place in Anna Karenina published?
Such a “watering-place” figures in Anna Karenina, published in 1877, when the scorned Kitty Shcherbatsky travels to a German spa seeking to restore her well-being.