In 1892, author Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote a short story that changed American society. Gilman wrote a literary critique of the social structures of America during the Gilded Age, especially with regard to women. Many authors have approached the same subject; however, what made Gilman's short story so impactful was the plot in which she introduced (and addressed) the societal issue.
Gilman wrote her story, titled "The Yellow Wallpaper", about a woman who feels so trapped in her role as the "perfect American wife" that she goes insane. The plot begins with the housewife stuck in the bedroom of a summer home. She has lately been feeling some mental unrest due to her inability to express herself creatively. As a result, the woman's husband prescribes to her the "resting treatment": during a specified period of time, the woman is not to express her creativity in any form at all, and is encouraged not to use her imagination for any reason. The woman becomes so restless in her room that she allows her imagination to take over her conscious mind, and she begins to hallucinate that there is a woman trapped behind the walls of her bedroom, waiting to get out. The woman actually tears the wallpaper off the walls of her room in an attempt to free this woman, and as a result, she becomes so enraptured with her story that she ends up trapping herself in her own insanity. 
This story has a couple interesting psychological levels. One of these is the plot itself, which says a lot about the effect of repression on individuals, and the strength of our own imaginative and creative powers. Furthermore, it is widely known that the author was prescribed this "resting treatment" by her own psychologist as a way to combat her creative frustration (This treatment was abandoned shortly after Gilman's short story was published). Perhaps, this short story is a comment on her own psychological experience in addition to women's position in society.
After reading this short story myself, I found it really interesting to consider that there have been many stages to psychological treatment throughout history - many treatments that have been strengthened, and many others that have been abandoned over time. Furthermore, Gilman's comment on women and their role in society during the 1890s has a psychological component to it as well. Her story appealed to the emotions of countless individuals at the time, and continues to do so today, helping to change the way we treat each other and how we value each other.
This certainly was no ordinary short story. Through psychology and psychological analysis, Gilman changed American society (arguably, for the better) during the Gilded Age, and helped to bring about a new era of equality and higher moral standards.
Here's a link to a website you may find useful in analyzing the short story, especially if you have read it:
Doesn't look like my link worked as expected: here it is again, in case anyone is interested!
http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/gilman.htm
Is this also a movie? I checked out your link. This is the same kind of oppression white men have used to control groups throughout history. Domination and submission. I also am aware of the psychological significance. It is just sad that those are the methods chosen to make one group, here males, feel superior and dominant over another group.
I read this short story in an English class in high school and I thought it was very interesting to read into the mind of a psychologically distressed woman. It is true that many psychological practices have become strengthened or abandoned over time, as the prefrontal lobotomy we read about in the textbook.
I read The Yellow Wallpaper also in an English class in high school. I loved how Gilman showed that by her attempts to free the "trapped" woman, she ended up trapping herself because of her male-dominated, oppressive society. It is always interesting to see the different psychological practices in history.
I actually read this story in high school, and when reading it I all i could think of was how whatever actions the husband was taking to make the wife feel better were not working. Also, how she was going even more insane, and he needed to think of something else that would help her. That is why I totally agree with you that practices have come and gone. There are things that work and just don't work. Pretty much its all through experimental trail trying to figure what can cure something.
Along with the idea that practices come and go, it reinforces the principle of how skeptical psychologists need to be in developing them. In the oppressive society in The Yellow Wallpaper, the bed rest was an accepted method. How would we define our society? I for one get infuriated by the number of prescriptions and money wasted by Americans, to remedy "symptoms" that are nature's way of telling them something in their life needs to change. Yet instead of doing the work, they take pills.
Well, now I want to read this story and I already have a stack of books I'm trying to read so your post itself makes me have mixed feelings.
Anywho, this is a really interesting thing to look at. It's cool how books, movies, and little comments can affect things. You mentioned that the "resting treatment" wasn't practiced much after this was published. I definitely think that things like this (reaction to the public's reaction to an event) happens a lot. For example, after Supersize Me, a documentary on Mcdonalds, came out, many fast food chains got rid of their "supersize" size. I'm not saying that the large is smaller, but there was a bad connotation with "supersize" or "jumbosize."
Today, with the world connected to the internet and people expressing their opinions more freely, more and more things are being focused on. Little things that could have been ignored are now being blown up on blogs and critiqued by the entire world. This has changed many things, and I think the book is a good example.
I read this short story so many times!! It was one of the speech stories that was in my category for high school speech team, my category was extemporaneous reading. This is such an eloquently worded description of one woman's trip to insanity. I was also frustrated at her unequal treatment and the prescription for her only served to her demise. Gilman's story is so very fascinating and a wonderful, albeit depressing, historical view of the practices for mental illness in the Gilded Age. Mainly that they didn't know how to deal with mental illness. They could diagnose but not effectively treat.