Schizophrenia in the Yellow Wallpaper Throughout history people have always seemed to follow notions that are considered "interesting". While I doubt “cool” was the word used to describe these notions, they were still there in one form or another. One of the greatest farces ever committed in the name of these popular perceptions has been medicine. At the time, cutting-edge medicine always seems to have involved some kind of noxious chemical or a typically atrocious diet. Not to mention that ninety-nine percent of doctors were men. Women's ideas were immediately belittled based on the preconception that women were not meant for such enlightened thinking. No, men actually knew what was best and women had to respect what their husbands said. This reminds me of one husband in particular and how he was responsible for his wife going completely and utterly crazy. His name is John and he is the husband of a woman who has been diagnosed with temporary nervous depression, which means a slight hysterical tendency. Through John's interference he transformed what was considered a minor case of chemical imbalance into full-blown schizophrenia. At the turn of the century, when this story took place, what scientists knew about the human mind would not have filled the inside of a matchbox. This was certainly the case when the patient was a woman. If there was any deviation in a woman's accepted behavior according to society, the woman was considered hysterical. In dealing with these patients, instead of seriously considering the consequences of their actions, they adopted obscenely stupid notions about how to deal with problems of the mind. The conventional course of action to take in the narrator's case was to do nothing. I mean literally, nothing. Because the narrator was considered hysterical and mildly depressed and there was only one course of action for such symptoms. It was one of complete rest. In those days the rest cure was very popular. It involved being separated from anything that might contain even the remotest possibility of stress. The protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper was in fact put aside from any activity directed by her husband. John dutifully followed the established path, without questioning any of the accepted methods.