The Layman Doctor

In Freud’s first of his five lectures on psychoanalysis he describes the attitude that most doctors have towards their hysterical patients as unsympathetic. Although Freud viewed most doctors as uninterested laymen when faced with hysterical patients, he believed Dr. Joseph Breuer was the exact opposite. Dr. Breuer was intrigued by his patient’s illness and treated it as such, unlike many doctors at the time who did not see hysteria as an illness. Throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, John, the narrator’s husband, and physician illustrates Freud’s criticism of how most doctors treat their hysterical patients.

It is evident that Sigmund Freud believes most doctors are laymen when it comes to hysterical patients, as it is portrayed in his first lecture. According to Freud, their attitude towards hysterical patients stems from the importance they set on the amount of knowledge they possess. This is revealed when Freud says, “He cannot understand hysteria, and in the face of it he is himself a layman. This is not a pleasant situation for anyone who as a rule sets so much store by his knowledge” (Freud 7). Since doctors place such importance on their intelligence they withdraw interest from patients who question their knowledge, which Freud believes makes them a layman. Freud describes how doctors tend to treat their knowledge of science as something sacred which leads them to treat those who in their eyes “question” it as heretics unworthy of their attention. Freud states, “He attributes every kind of wickedness to them, accuses them of exaggeration, of deliberate deceit, of malingering. And he punishes them by withdrawing his interest from them” (Freud 7).

Freud describes Dr. Joseph Breuer as the antithesis of most doctors. Dr. Breuer is kind and understanding to his patients. While he may not have known how to treat his patient’s illness, he still showed her interest and concern. According to Freud “Soon, moreover, his benevolent scrutiny showed him the means of bringing her a first installment of help” (Freud 8). Unlike doctors who disregarded their patients’ illness, Dr. Breuer treated his patient by showing her sympathy, which was the first step in helping her. To understand his patient Dr. Breuer had to acknowledge her illness; this contrasts how most doctors see hysterical patients as “heretics” (Freud 7). Breuer understands the impact that neglect can have on a patient’s health. Breuer is effective in treating his patient’s hysteria due to the sympathy and awareness he displays towards them and their illness. 

For the duration of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, John, the narrator’s husband, and physician holds the same attitude towards his wife that Freud criticizes most doctors for having. The narrator believes she is not getting better because her husband does not trust her when she tells him that she is sick. When describing her husband, the narrator says, “John is a physician, and — perhaps (I would not say this to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) perhaps that is one reason I do not get better” (Gilman 1). This quote illustrates how patients feel when their doctors show no interest in their illness and show the detrimental impact it can have on their mental health. John symbolizes the majority of doctors who do not sympathize with their patients. I find it evident that John characterizes all of the criticism Freud holds against most doctors and contrasts the benevolent attitude of doctors like Breuer.

John, the narrator’s husband from “The Yellow Wallpaper” exemplifies how not to conduct yourself when dealing with a hysterical patient. Based off of the criticisms presented in Sigmund Freud’s first lecture on psychoanalysis, hysteria is a severe illness even though it is not tangible and should be treated as such by doctors. Freud viewed Dr. Breuer as the exact opposite of the doctors he had criticized. Breuer showed interest and sympathy towards his patients, which allowed him to treat their illness.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.