'Mother's Little Helpers'

“Mother needs something today to calm her down / And though she’s not really ill / There’s a little yellow pill / She goes running for the shelter of mother’s little helper”

-        The Rolling Stones, 1966

Amongst the paracetamol-popping, cough-medicine drinking, self-medicating world we live in today, is it at all surprising that researched, validated, prescription medications were routinely abused back in the 1960s? Valium – a benzodiazepine created in 1963 by Leo Sternbach – quickly became a sensation across the USA and parts of the UK, prescribed pre-dominantly to housewives with children ‘trapped’ in their domestic situations by the obligations of marriage and motherhood.

Medically, Valium is a psycho-pharmaceutical drug which was designed to tackle anxiety and developed to be less addictive than previously prescribed opiate-based drugs. The chemicals in Valium work to latch on to a receptor in the brain which in turn secretes a neurotransmitter known as GABA. This induces a calming, state almost immediately; beneficial to those genuinely suffering bouts of genuine anxiety but dangerously addictive to millions of housewives being wrongly prescribed and becoming worryingly dependant. 

Ironically ‘Valium’ derives from the Latin ‘to be strong and well’ and was one of the first branded-drug in existence to be rolled out, advertised and encouraged across America. Numerous articles and adverts appeared in women’s magazines such as Time and Cosmopolitan which raved about a ‘revised’ doctor-patient relationship in which any emotional upheaval could be cured with a trip to your doctor and a healthy supply of ‘mother’s little helpers.’ Long gone were the years in which mothers were expected to cope, alone, with a house bursting with the trials and tribulations of bringing up children, keeping a respectable house whilst supporting and satisfying a husband. Previous experience, a loud voice, the patience of a saint and a handful of well-rehearsed bedtime stories simply weren’t enough for many struggling housewives. This ‘medical miracle’ not only sedated parts of the central nervous system, it sedated parts of life.

     Armed with ‘little yellow pills’, mothers could avoid ‘battered parent syndrome’ discussed in an advert Wallace Pharmaceuticals, a drug company based in New Jersey. Posing questions such as ‘is anxiety and tension fast-becoming the occupational disease of the homemaker?’ housewives were increasingly drawn to the sympathetic nature of these adverts, perhaps seeking solace in the knowledge that their friends and other women were also failing to cope.

Were these housewives and mothers merely victims of an ever-changing society which appeared to have left them behind in favour of the young, vibrant, independent, childless women emerging from this decade? Or did these mature, educated and respectful women resent blindly following the example of their mothers, becoming the dutiful wife and the perfect mother? Each scenario is plausible, but one thing is for sure a good deal of sleep, a glass of wine or a large dose of peace and quiet are the most typically prescribed parent-pacifiers, thank heavens!