Did Mary Lincoln need committal?

[Eva Elisabeth]

(04-05-2014 04:34 AM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  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.

He was responsible for her - from his point of view. However, the questionable point IMO is not that he did take action, but that he didn't look for and try another way first, leaving confinement as the very last instead of the first solution, plus what you said in your last passage (minus the last sentence) - the way he treated her and handled the affair.

Although sure the experts who all agreed on Mary's condition were right about this, to get a different point of view on the entire affair and Mary's condition, I recommend reading Samuel Schreiner's "The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln". It's (as for thoughts and dialogues) fiction, but based on facts (letters, documents, newspaper accounts, etc ), and IMO worth reading and considering if there might not have been a little grain of truth in the thoughts he put into Mary's mind and Robert's motives, especially regarding that she managed to get herself out of confinement in such a short time and managed the rest of her life quite well, including shopping habits and handling her financial affairs, plus that she never (again?) attempted suicide or to harm herself.

There's also another excellent and interesting book on the topic I read upon Roger's recommendation on this thread: "Mrs Mary Lincoln", by Willhelm Evans.