Was the Prophet Joseph Smith bi-polar?

[_Jersey Girl]

Hello Folks,

On another thread, beastie expresses that she thinks Joseph Smith was bi-polar. I'd like to know why she thinks that and what do the rest of you think regarding his mental health. Please keep it on topic.

Jersey Girl

[_moksha]

Is it really that unreasonable to declare yourself King and Hgh Priest of the Earth?
After all, even Al Bundy had been known to say, "Who's the King baby?", to which
Peggy Bundy would reply, "oh, you are Al".

[_beastie]

Jersey Girl - I put together my thoughts on this matter a while ago, and am looking for the file so I don't have to start over from square one.

[_beastie]

Found them. I'm just going to copy and paste them here.

Joseph Smith and Bipolar

I mentioned a while ago that I was interested in further exploring the possibility that Joseph Smith suffered from bipolar disorder. As a caution, I should state that I have three family members who suffer from different forms of bipolar disorder, have studied the disorder quite a bit, and may be predisposed to “seeing” it too much, if that makes sense. However, I think this is pretty serious evidence that needs to be addressed.

This summer I read Scott Faulring’s An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith. Most of it was dreadfully boring, as most journals/diaries are, but I was taking notes of events/statements that could be indicative of either bipolar mania or depression.

Of course, I will state one more time, that this will always remain purely speculative. We are talking about a dead man, and have no access to his friends or families to clarify these questions. But it’s still interesting, although speculative.

Some of the earlier records were actually written by Joseph Smith himself. These tended to be more revealing in terms of possible depression. This makes sense – writing by oneself gives a feeling of intimacy and privacy that is no longer present when dictating to a scribe. Once scribes became involved, possible evidence of depression became more indirect. For example, noting periods of illness with vague or no symptoms listed. In my personal experience, it is quite common for sufferers of bipolar to attribute their inability to function during depressions to vague illnesses. Of course, why would they even try to explain what’s going on in their heads to a third party?

So, in my opinion, the best evidence of possible bipolar depression comes from the early records, written by Joseph Smith himself.

“November 19th/AD 1833/ From the 13th untill this date nothing of note has transpired since the great sign in the heavins. This day my heart is somewhat sorrowfull but I feel to trust in the Lord the God of Jacob. I have learned in my travels that man is trecherous and selfish but few excepted.” (From Faulring’s An American Prophet’s Records, page 14)

Here Joseph Smith actually tells us nothing of note has transpired, so there is no circumstantial trigger for depression.

“November 28th [1832] This day I have spent in reading and writing. This evening my mind is calm and serene for which I thank the Lord.

December 4th This day I have been unwell and done but little, been at home all day. Regulated some things this Evening. I feel better in my mind than I have for a few days back. Oh Lord deliver thy servent out of temptations and fill his heart with wisdom and understanding.” (both page 10)

Here are the entries between these two entries, both of which indicate depression.
November 29th This day I road from Kirtland to Chardon to see my Sister Sophronia and also called to see my Sister Catherine and found them well.

This evening Brother Frederick G. Williams Prophecyed that next spring I should go to the city of Pittsburg to etablish a Bishopwrick and within one year I should go to the city of New York. The Lord spare the life of they servent. Amen.

November 30th 1830 [editor corrected to 1832] This day returned home to Kirland and found all well to the joy and satisfaction of my soul. On my return home stopped at Mr. King’s and bore testimony to him and Family &c.

December 1th I bore testimony to Mr. Gilmore/ I wrote and corrected revelations &c.

December 2th The Sabath, I went to meeting &c

December 3rd Ordained Brother Packherd with my own hands. Also Brother Umfiry [Humphery who] came to see me from the East and braught news from Brother Lyman Johnson & Orson Pratt, &c

Also held a conference in the Evening. Brothers Jesse Gause and Mormon and William McLellen was excommunicated from the Church &c

Once again, no circumstantial trigger.

I also noted statements or events that could be indicative of mania. One could argue that claiming to be a prophet who saw God Himself and continued to communicate with heavenly beings constitutes constant grandiosity, so I was looking for statements that seemed extreme even under that circumstance. Here are some of the more notable:

Feb 25, 1843
I am a Lawyer. I am big lawyer and comprehend heaven, earth, and hell to bring forth knowledge which shall cover up all Lawyers and doctors. This is the doctrine of the Constitution so help me God. (page 313)

March 4, 1843
I wish you had my soul long enough to know how good it feels. It is expedience when you strike at an enemy, strike the most deadly blow possible. (326)

June 30, 1843
Joseph commenced a lecture on the stand to many thousands by How do you do? I meet you with a heart full of gratitude to Almighty God. I am well, healthy, [and] strong as a giant. While I was on the road I pulled up the strongest man. Then they got 2 men and they could not pull me up. I have pulled mentally till I have pulled Missouri here. (389)

I wish the Lawyer who say we have no powers in Nauvoo may be choked to death with his own words. Don’t employ any Lawyers for their knowledge for I know more [than] they all. (390)

Ran for president Jan 1844

March 1844 The Council of Fifty- having himself crowned “King”

Another interesting element is the pattern of his plural marriages. Although Joseph Smith married women at a frequent pace from 1841 on, there were periods when his marrying escalated, and when it involved younger women in particular, which could lead to the speculation that it was most likely connected with sexual desire.

One of these periods coincides with several of the above grandiose statements – March-spring 1843. The other period was early summer of 1842. I noted some of his records from August 1842 as possibly being manic as well, due to his effusive praise of his friends and family members. For example:

“Blessed is Brother Erastus H. Derby, and he shall be blessed of the Lord. He possesses a sober mind, and a faithful heart. The snares therefore that are subsequent to befall other men, who are treacherous and rotten-hearted, shall not come nigh to his doors, but shall be far from the path of his feet. He loveth wisdom, and shall be found possessed of her. Let there be a crown of glory, and a diadem upon his head. Let the light of eternal Truth shine forth upon his understanding, let his name be had in remembrance, let the blessings of Jehovah be crowned upon his posterity after him, for he rendereth me consolation, in the lonely places of my retreat. (246)

He went on to talk at length about his family members, how noble, virtuous, and pure they are, as well as lavishly praising other friends in the church.

Now, admittedly none of this “nails” the case, but it is evidence that I think should be considered.

[Tator]

http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/prophet.htm

The most intractable problem associated with the early development of polygamy, instead, was something else. One curious bit of evidence simply did not make sense. William Marks, president of the Nauvoo Stake high council and a man of unquestionable honesty and integrity, emphatically insisted that Joseph Smith had approached him in the spring of 1844, shortly before his martyrdom, and had said: "This doctrine of polygamy or Spiritual-wife System, that has been taught and practiced among us will prove our destruction and overthrow." According to Marks, Smith went on to say that he had been "deceived, in reference to its practice," that it was "wrong," and that Marks should go to the high council and prefer charges against all who practiced the doctrine, while Joseph would "preach against it, with all my might, and in this way we may rid the church of this damnable heresy."14

Most obvious is the Mormon prophet's extraordinary expansiveness and grandiosity throughout this period. During the last year of his life, to mention only the most well-known examples, Smith served as mayor of Nauvoo and head of his own private army, became "king" of his secret Kingdom of God that he anticipated would eventually encompass all of North and South America, ran for president of the United States (that effort was cut short by his martyrdom), and was the "husband" in some sense of dozens of wives.25 About a year before his martyrdom, he declared: "Excitement has almost become the essence of my life. When that dies away, I feel almost lost."26 Those who supported Joseph Smith during his last years were impressed by his sense of divine mission and his feeling that he was discovering the very secrets of the universe. Those who opposed him, including some of his previously most loyal lieutenants such as William Marks and William Law, thought instead that he had slipped his moorings and become a "fallen prophet," unfit to lead the church he had founded.

In no area were Joseph Smith's manic qualities more evident than in his efforts to introduce and practice polygamy during the last three years of his life. The point at which Joseph Smith began systematically to introduce polygamy to his closest associates has strong suggestions of mania. As Danel Bachman, summarizing the account by Helen Mar Kimball, wrote: "Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and John Taylor [key members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who were returning from England] arrived in Nauvoo on July 1, 1841. ... Joseph Smith was waiting at the landing with a company of horsemen. As soon as the missionaries disembarked from the boat, he rushed them to dinner at his home, not even giving them time to visit their own families. Vilate Kimball thought that this discourtesy continued after dinner when Smith brought the entire party to the Kimball home. The Prophet, wrote Helen Kimball, 'seemed unwilling to part with my father and from that time kept the Twelve in Council early and late.' Helen said her mother 'never dreamed that he was during those times revealing to them the principles of Celestial Marriage' or that her trials were about to begin."27

Clinically significant manic episodes often alternate with correspondingly deep states of depression. Once again it must be noted that many individuals experience mild depression and that such states of mind are not uncommon during periods of severe stress. Whether such periods of depression were clinically significant in Joseph Smith's case remains debatable. That he did have periods of severe depression and discouragement during the last years of his life is, however, indisputable.

One such period was described by one of his plural wives, Mary Rollins Lightner. She recalled Smith saying: "I am tired, I have been mobbed, I have suffered so much from outsiders and from my own family. Some of the brethren think they can carry this work on better than I can, far better. I have asked the Lord to take me away. I have to seal my testimony to this generation with my blood. I have to do it for this work will never progress until I am gone for the testimony is of no force until the testator is dead. People little know who I am when they talk about me, and they will never know until they see me weighed in the balance in the Kingdom of God. Then they will know who I am, and see me as I am. I dare not tell them, and they do not know me."29

[_beastie]

Bipolar is strongly hereditary, and Joseph Smith' son, David, suffered from the condition (although they did not use the same term back then, obviously) and was institutionalized most of his life due to it.

In addition, the above quoted author states that, through his investigation, he discovered that bipolar does appear to run in the Smith line:

http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/prophet.htm

footnote 20

. For discussions of David Hyrum Smith's case, see Valeen Tippetts Avery, From Mission to Madness: Last Son of the Mormon Prophet (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998); Avery, "Irreconcilable Differences"; and Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 288-95. Of the six other male descendants diagnosed as having mental disorders, one committed suicide at about age forty-five after showing signs of manic-depression, and another, who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic (dementia paradoxia), also committed suicide. Documents in my possession from a living associate of the Smith family. Name withheld by request. On May 22, 1993, in Lamoni, Iowa, I corroborated examples of manic-depression in the family with a Joseph Smith, Jr., descendant.

[_beastie]

I want to emphasize the speculative nature of this discussion. I do not believe it is possible, with the evidence we have, to categorically state that Joseph Smith suffered from bipolar, or any other disorder. Diagnosing mental disorders can be challenging even with living patients. My point is that I believe sufficient evidence exists to consider it as a possibility. I, personally, do believe Joseph Smith likely suffered from some form of bipolar.

[_truth dancer]

I'm with Beastie in that we are just speculating but after engaging in long term interactions with three women with Delusion Disorder, my best guess is Joseph Smith had Delusion Disorder, Grandiosity type with possibly rapid cycling moods!

Without even knowing Joseph Smith's complete history, he clearly qualifies for the diagnosis in the DSM IV TR.

The thing is, those with delusion disorder believe their delusions. They have a way of twisting, rationalizing, and coming up with all sorts of untruths to support their beliefs. Just like Joseph Smith.

:-)

Just a guess!

~dancer~

*Grandiosity type consists of delusions of inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity, or special relationship to a deity or famous person.

*Rapid Cycling is four moods (either depressive or manic), in one year.

*Delusion disorder, very briefly:

A. Has non-bizarre (could occur) delusions
B. Doesn't qualify for Schizophrenia
C. Behavior is not odd nor is it markedly impaired
D. Moods are brief in comparison to delusions
E. Not due to substances or other medical conditions

[_harmony]

I'm with Beastie in that we are just speculating but after engaging in long term interactions with three women with Delusion Disorder, my best guess is Joseph Smith had Delusion Disorder, Grandiosity type with possibly rapid cycling moods!

Without even knowing Joseph Smith's complete history, he clearly qualifies for the diagnosis in the DSM IV TR.

The thing is, those with delusion disorder believe their delusions. They have a way of twisting, rationalizing, and coming up with all sorts of untruths to support their beliefs. Just like Joseph Smith.

:-)

Just a guess!

~dancer~

*Grandiosity type consists of delusions of inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity, or special relationship to a deity or famous person.

*Rapid Cycling is four moods (either depressive or manic), in one year.

*Delusion disorder, very briefly:

A. Has non-bizarre (could occur) delusions
B. Doesn't qualify for Schizophrenia
C. Behavior is not odd nor is it markedly impaired
D. Moods are brief in comparison to delusions
E. Not due to substances or other medical conditions

Now, if someone said they'd seen God, dug up a box that contained gold plates that contained a holy book, heard voices, or had visions... and we'd throw them into the nearest mental health facility and start therapy immediately. Unless it's Joseph. Then millions of people would revere him. Go figure.

[_truth dancer]

Hi Harmony...

Exactly!

Another possibility...

When reading Ramanchandran's, Phantoms in the Brain, there was a description of a man with frontal lobe epilepsy, and I could swear the guy presented exactly like Joseph Smith! ;-)

If anyone is interested I could go find it....

~dancer~