Was the "rest cure" the best treatment for Gilman?

1860-1935

After reading Charlotte Gilman's "Yellow Wallpaper," I learned that Gilman was diagnosed with neurasthenia. Neurasthenia was labeled as being a "weakened nerve" type of disease that was mainly diagnosed to Americans. It was usually found in suburb Americans that dealt with a lot of stress, which brough it's nickname "Americanitis".

Everyone deals with some kind of stress, even The President.

Although being diagnosed with this illness does not make you a prisoner, doctors feel as if acting like one is the cure. Dr. Mitchell informed Gilman that it was best for her to not do anything active, also known as "the rest cure". This included not being able to her taking care of her child or write poetry. My question is...did this help? Gilman's well-educated husband locked her in a room for her own sake hoping she would get better. I think this approach was not the best thing for her. Whether it was the bars on the windows or the seeing women trying to escape out of the wallpaper, Charlotte was a prisoner in her own mind. 

This treatment is very similar to the treatment prisoners get in there cell, minus the violence. They take your love ones away from you and all your hobbies. Gilman was forced into believing what she was seeing was true because it was all she knew. The "rest cure" can sometimes be the worse for a patient with weak nerves. Prisoners sit in a cell all day everyday and come out only to go back in. Although Gilman is not a prisoner, her thought process is and she should have had more medical attention even being so far ago. Personally, I think the "rest cure" is best prescribed for illnesses such as motion sickness, not something as serious as weakened nerves in your brain.

I'm sure today doctors have a different approach on how to cure this illness. There are medications for all types thing these days. For example, if Gilman was diagnosed with Neurasthenia she would probably get prescribed Zoloft, or it's generic sertraline. Both medications are used to treat depression, social phobias, and nerve disorders. The "rest cure" did not seem to make any kind of influence on Gilman personally, she only seemed to get worse as she was "resting".

Below is a short movie about 9 different guys with multiple personality disorders similar to neurasthenia: