Nervousness/Insanity as unfeminine behavior in 19th c

“ . . . the common characteristic of the symptoms was the unfeminine nature of the behavior or feeling. Insane and nervous women were describe as antimaternal, selfish, willful, violent, erotic – all of these inappropriate in terms of nineteenth-century definitions of womanhood. . . Case studies indicate that women patients and their families and friends were as responsible as physicians for linking unfeminine behavior with insanity and nervousness (Theriot II, 17). . . . Husbands brought in wives for a variety of unwomanly offenses. Women who disagreed too vocally, lost interest in personal appearance, or neglected their children were brought to physicians by husbands who saw this behavior as insane or nervous” (18).