Wear and Tear: Or Hints for the OverworkedS. Weir Mitchell's work on the etiology and treatment of neurasthenia, commonly called "brain drain," provided the intersection of medical diagnoses of a serious ailment with cultural critiques of modernity and the vigorous reassertion of traditional gender ideologies. It was for neurasthenia that Mitchell treated feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman and countless others, for whom the pace and pressures of modern society had proved too difficult to bear, and who were exhibiting symptoms ranging from severe depression and unbearable lassitude, to anxiety and panic disorders. First published in 1971, Wear and Tear became a best-seller, a popular general treatise on culture and mental and physical health and brought Mitchell significant public attention. More than a century later, Wear and Tear may be seen as cautionary tales, reminding contemporary readers of the persistence of traditional gender ideologies, and the ways in which pseudo-scientific arguments have undermined women's claims for an equal footing in the public and private spheres. |
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activity American anxiety apoplexy become blood body brain brain-work causes of ill centres cerebral Charlotte Perkins Gilman chiefly chronic fatigue syndrome climate condition contemporary cultural critique deaths diet doctor knows dropsy effects eighteen energy Epilepsy evil excessive excitement exercise exhaustion fact fatigue feel gender growing girl habits Hints ical increase Injuries of Nerves intellectual introduction by Michael Kimmel lawyer less live lockjaw Massachusetts matter mental labor mischief Mitchell's muscles natural nerve-centres nervous disease nervous maladies nervous system ness neuralgia Neurasthenia Neurologist neurology normal schools Oliver Wendell Holmes overtaxed overwork parents peculiarities Philadelphia physical physician pupils question result scholars sense sleep statistics stimulated story strain suffer sure symptoms tasked teachers tetanus thinking organs thought tion to-day troubled vigor Walnut Creek warning Wear and Tear Weir Mitchell woman women Yellow Wallpaper young
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Page viii - Live as domestic a life as possible. Have your child with you all the time." (Be it remarked that if I did but dress the baby it left me shaking and crying - certainly far from a healthy companionship for her, to say nothing of the effect on me.) "Lie down an hour after each meal. Have but two hours