Did Mary Lincoln need committal?

[LincolnToddFan]

As much empathy and compassion as I have for Mary Lincoln, I have always felt sad that Robert was as harshly condemned as he was for taking the action that he did in having his mother institutionalized. She was wandering her hotel half clothed. She was roaming the streets with large quantities of cash tucked into her skirts. She was hallucinating about being tortured. She had accused Robert of trying to murder her after he tried to get her back to her rooms during one of her psychotic episodes. She attempted to leap from her hotel window, insisting her rooms were on fire.

Mary ran off the personal companion Robert had hired to stay with her. She refused to stay with Robert and his family after a falling out with Mary Harlan Lincoln. What were the poor guy's options at that point?

If Mary had ended up harming herself or anyone else because Robert refused to take action, the blame would have fallen completely on him. He was head of the Lincoln family. He was responsible for her.

In one of Jason Emerson's books(can't remember which one) a Dr James Brust-head of the Dept of Psychiatry at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital in California wrote than even today, the kind of behavior that Mary was exhibiting after Tad's death would require her to be institutionalized. I agree with Dr. Brust's opinion after reading the Emerson book and other bio's of Mary.

Granted, the manner in which it was carried out..arrest, trial, no opportunity to prepare... was awful and humiliating for this proud woman who had been the wife of the President of the U.S...but the sad fact is that Robert was out of options at that point.