From the Archives: The Rest Cure

Ever since we released this episode, it feels like every topic we cover comes right back to it! So this week we are bringing back the Rest Cure: Prescribed Torture?

When you go to the doctor with a psychiatric concern, you would expect them to hear you out and find the treatment regimen that is right for you. But in 1800s Victorian America, this wasn’t exactly the case. Neurologist Dr. Mitchell created the “Rest Cure” for his patients that required women to lay completely still for almost two straight months. A patient undergoing this treatment wasn’t allowed to move a single muscle, feed themselves, or stand up to use the bathroom. After a while, this treatment slowly starts to look a little like torture even. Join us in this episode to learn the ins and outs of the rest cure, what a patient went through during this treatment, and how it was a reflection of medical thought at the time. After discussing this cure, we speak at length about the idea of a ‘rest cure’ in modern times, and how resting can be either beneficial or dismissive in medicine today. 

 

Check out our Feminist Corner questions below!

• Time and time again we see patients’ entire health attributed to their uterus and reproductive health, which is interesting because today, so many women use their OB/GYN as their primary care provider. Do you think this idea of reproductive health encompassing all (or part of) women's health is still relevant today?

• Patients who face chronic illness and chronic fatigue today are often told ‘just rest, and go home as a treatment for their condition as if their symptoms are not real or they are just overworked. How does this concept today relate to the rest cure? Should we be rethinking how we tell patients to rest?

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