Mitchell pioneered the rest cure, a treatment that entailed the patient being bed-ridden in an effort to stop the exertion of energy. Many women, including author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, were ordered to lay in bed and could not rise to feed, bathe or even use the bathroom themselves. This form of treatment for female "neuralgia" or other forms of mental illness imprisoned women inside their homes with their husbands and doctor as their captors instead of the previously used asylums. 

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