Did Mary Lincoln need committal?

[Dan Pearson]

Blaine Houmes (hello Blaine!) touched upon an important point in considering Mary Lincoln's illness. We have to avoid presentism. In the late 1800s there were few psychological or psychiatric options available to Robert Lincoln. Either a person was "insane" and committed to an institution, or they were not and left to their own devices. To condem Robert because he was forced to the extreme option he took, using 21st century standards, seems a bit unfair.

Perhaps Mary does not fit today's standard of insanity, but she certainly would be a candidate for the modern interventions of psychiatric care, psychological counseling, or medicinal therapy. But Robert was faced with the back or white choice of committing his mother to someone's care or letting her continue with behavior that might be harmful at best, and destructive at worst.