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

[Jenny]

Eva - Bipolar disorders are different than depression in that way. They have "manias" or what Roger called "manic episodes" in which their thoughts run together, they cannot sleep, and they can have *extreme* delusions of grandeur and sometimes act on those impulses. The manias are referred to as "highs." When a bipolar person does go into a depression, that's called a "low." Even though mood stabilizers and anti-depressants do help, most bipolar people spend their entire lives battling their changing moods. How quickly moods change and how long "highs" and "lows" last vary from person to person.

Real life case example: One bipolar man having a manic episode decided it would be a grand idea to go out, buy a shrimping boat, and actually moved out of the USA to shrimp. This man had NO experience with boating and had never expressed any desire to boat or to go "shrimping" or to move in his entire life before his episode. Needless to say the experience went horribly; the man's boat sunk somehow (I forget what happened - I think a storm hit it). The man went home to the US, his manic episode turned into a depressive one, and his doctor changed his meds and warned him once again about acting on impulse like that. I do not know if the man did anything else that extreme when he came out of his depression and had his next manic episode... but people do crazy things like that, often even worse, when they are manic. People have committed murders during manias when they are delusional and angry depending on the circumstance.

When bipolar individuals have their "lows" or depressive episodes, then *that's* the point in which they will stay in bed for days or self-harm etc. How severe the "highs" and "lows" are and how long they last varies from individual to individual, but they can be extreme to the max either way.

Oh, and another point that might pertain to John Wilkes Booth: one symptom of bipolar disorder is a over-inflated ego and sense of invincibility. Not all bipolar people have this symptom but many certainly do (like my uncle - ugh).

Roger - You hit the nail on the head in regards to my theory! I think he was in the midst of a huge manic episode; couple that with the end of the war and surrender of the South along with his highly impassioned Southern views, and I can see how he would have been able to do the awful deed that he did. I do not think he was in his right mind. That doesn't excuse what he did... but it might help explain it and his particular actions around that time and on the day of the assassination.

And back then no one, including Wilkes, would have even considered the possibility of him having a mental illness because Booth was by all accounts able to carry on a fairly normal life as most bipolar people do despite the mood swings, so his highs and lows wouldn't have been thought of as abnormal or noted because most mental illnesses were still completely unknown/unnamed by science. I'm actually impressed that a few of John's possible mood swings *were* apparently noted according to Lust of Fame (although they were not attributed to a mental illness then).