of the affliction were. The symptoms of prairie madness were similar to those of depression. The women affected by prairie madness were said to show symptoms such as crying, slovenly dress, and withdrawal from social interactions. Men also showed signs of depression, which sometimes manifested in violence. Prairie madness was not unique from other types of depression, but the harsh conditions on the prairie triggered this depression, and it was difficult to overcome without getting off of the prairie. In extreme cases, the depression would lead to mental breakdown. This could lead to suicide. There are theories that the suicides caused by prairie madness were typically committed by women, and performed in an exhibitionist fashion. Decline Prairie madness virtually disappears from the historical and literary record during the 20th century. This was likely the result of new modes of communication and transportation that arose during the late 19th and early 20th century. These included the increase in railroad lines, the invention and increasing usage of both the telephone and automobile, and further settlement leading to the "closing of the frontier", as described by renowned American Western historian Frederick Jackson Turner. In popular culture In Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry, a woman kills herself after living on the prairie for most of her lifetime, leaving a suicide note with the words "Tired of the damn wind". Stephen Bridgewater directed in 2008 an American Western film, Prairie Fever, starring Kevin Sorbo, Lance Henriksen and Dominique Swain. Glendon Swarthout's novel (also adapted to film), The Homesman, showcases prairie madness. In the TV series Dan Vs., season 1 episode 12 "Dan Vs. George Washington", Chris suffers from prairie madness, not once, but twice. Michael Parker wrote a novel called Prairie Fever in 2019. James Michener covers the topic of mental health in one of the chapters about the settlement of the Colorado Plains in his opus Centennial. Prairie madness is a theme in the 2002 film Edge of Madness. The 2018 supernatural Western thriller The Wind chronicles a woman getting prairie madness in the 1800s. In These Happy Golden Years, one of the Little House on the Prairie books, 15-year-old Laura Ingalls witnessed the unstable and homesick Mrs. Brewster screaming and threatening her husband with a knife, demanding that he take her back East. See also Agoraphobia Cabin fever Kayak angst Depopulation of the Great Plains Great American Desert References Adjustment disorders Great Plains