Boston Bombing aftermath, any similarity to the Lincoln assassination aftermath?

[Jenny]

Interesting, Craig. I'm not a psychologist either but I do know a lot about mental illness due to my own family history.

This is a just theory of mine and should be treated as such, but personally I suspect Booth had bipolar disorder along with possible narcissistic personality disorder or similar mental illness; look at his father and family and consider how heavily disorders like those run in families. There are recorded incidents of both extreme mania and melancholy behavior from Wilkes himself; I think I read about most of them in Lust for Fame. Sadly mental illness was not spoken about due to stigma (not much different from today, unfortunately) and some forms of it were not even named back then. Plus most mentally ill people function at perfectly normal levels so symptoms wouldn't have been thought of as abnormal or given a second thought.

Don't get me wrong; I think Booth's ego was the size of Texas but I don't think that had much to do with the assassination. I honestly think he went way off the deep end after Richmond fell... and when a person goes off the deep end as badly as Booth probably did and happens to have a mental illness like bipolar disorder to fuel the anger and hatred, horrible things *can* happen as a result. I say that as someone who has a bipolar father and sister and who has seen some of the things mental illness can drive certain people to do. John Wilkes Booth was clearly a highly passionate individual in a time of a horrible war and I can only imagine how the surrender of Lee affected him. Add in an illness like bipolar disorder and its symptoms during a time of high distress/despair in an individual like Booth and you honest-to-God *do* have a chance of that person doing something catastrophic for a lost cause because that person *isn't* thinking rationally.

Would having a mental illness factoring in the equation excuse Booth's horrible action? NO. Not a chance! It might, however, help explain Booth's irrational mind frame and the ill-planning when he did the awful thing he did.

Before I get jumped on, remember that this is just a theory. Unfortunately my theory can never be proven or disproven due to lack of a modern psychologist who could time travel back to the 1860's, interview John Wilkes Booth in person regularly, and observe his actions and mood patterns over time for an extended period of time.