Nervousness was a condition described, according to Dr. George M. Beard, “strictly deficiency or lack of nerve-force” (American Nervousness, vi) in the 19th century. Nervousness at the time, was commonly acknowledged and accepted, so much so that it was written into literature, such as many of Jane Austen’s works. Many doctors considered nervousness to be a “woman’s disease” meaning that women were the most afflicted by this condition. Doctors of the 19th century have found excuses to restrict, restrain, objectify and metaphorically and literally lock women away, more specifically with the diagnosis of nervousness and other diseases that branch out from “the nerves”.
Dr. George M. Beard’s book, American Nervousness published in 1881. At the time doctors thought American’s were too tense and most cases of nervousness appeared in America, Beard’s book focuses on this. In his work he comments on the causes and consequences of American nervousness. Beard states that nervous diathesis, “includes those temperaments, commonly designated as nervous, in whom there exists a predisposition […]” (Beard, 25). Though in his book Beard relates nervousness to both men and woman, Beard clearly states that women are the most afflicted with nervousness. The end of chapter two focuses on beauty in relation to nervousness. Beard describes at length about American versus English beauty. What appears to be scientific, observational and enlightened is merely a description of his fascination of women, more specifically of American women and his romantic enchantment with them. The next section discusses the relation of dress to nervousness. Beard recounts a discussion with a psychologist, “A psychologist once asked me, ‘Why are bright colors beautiful in...
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...rough mental and physical examinations.
Works Cited
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described in an essay called “Shaking Palsy” published in 1817 by a London Physician named
Ostensibly, the narrator's illness is not physiological, but mental. John concludes that his wife is well except for a "temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency," a diagnosis that is confirmed by the narrator's own physician-brother (Gilman 10). John's profession, and moreover his diagnosis, is a license to closely observe, scrutinize, watch, gaze upon, seek out, and investigate his wife and her ailments, which consequently permits him to deploy seemingly inexhaustible (medical, scientific) means for (re)formulating and (re)presenting the hysteric female--not only for the purpose of giving her discursive representation, but in order to "de-mystify" her mystery and reassure himself that she is, finally, calculable, harmless, and non-threatening. To speak of John in psychoanalytic terms, his preoccupation with his wife, her body, and her confinement, reveals unspoken anxieties: the fear of castration and the "lack" the female body represents.
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The history of neurasthenia traces back before World War I to a scientist by the name of George A. Beard. Beard coined the actual term "neurasthenia" which means nerve weakness (Marlowe). Neurasthenia was attributed rather vaguely to the stress of everyday life, or, for soldiers, the stress of the trenches. Many also felt it was a disease primarily of the upper class, which means it would apply more often to officers in the army than regular men. Andrew Scott Myrtle, who wrote on the validity of neurasthenia, believed like many medical professionals of the era that "it is not the machine workers, the factory workers, who suffer but 'the inventors of the machines'" (Gijswijt-Hofstra 145). Not only did neurasthenia come from the many stresses of daily life, but it also had a myriad of symptoms. Every article on neurasthenia offered a different set of acceptable symptoms, the most common being sleeplessness, headaches, and fatigue (Marlowe). Cures for neurasthenia were as varied as its symptoms. When working with one patient, Beard "promptly zapped the young doctor with a 'faradic current' from 'head to toe'" (Martensen 1243). Electric shock was still being used during World War I, as evidenced by doctors like Lewis Yealland, but other cures such as bed rest, sea-salts, and expensive cruises were also circulating (Gijswijt-Hofstra 145).
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Embedded largely in women's discouraged ambitions and limited opportunities, a reaction of supposed hysteria cases occurred during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Due to rise in this type of mental illness, the period became known as the “Golden Age of Hysteria.” Authorities of the time defined the problem in terms of femininity and female sexuality. Coming from the Greek term hysteron, meaning womb, hysteria was known as a strictly female illness that was caused by women's delicate constitutions and emotionality. Many doctors believed the uterus caused it, which was why they concluded that men could not become hysterical. (Showalter, p. 129)
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In 1821, Barrett Browning began suffering from a nervous disorder that caused headaches, weakness, and fainting spells in which would affect her for the rest of her life (EXPLORING Poetry). Additionally, around the age of fourteen she injured her spine when attempting to saddle her pony, consequently dooming herself into a life of deficiency and solitude (DISCovering Autho...
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