To summarize: I believe we can attempt no truly satisfactory psychobiography of Joseph Smith if we consider his motivations and behavior the result of supernatural experiences only. Nor can we fully understand his life if we consider both naturalistic and supernatural events because difficulties in his psychological makeup which result in questionable behavior will be attributed to obedience to God, not to underlying psychological reasons. . . .

A true psychobiography of Joseph Smith can be done only if naturalistic assumptions are made and if all of Smith's writings—including canonized scripture—and interactions are considered psychologically. (Again, this position does not deny the possibility of the supernatural, but acknowledges that supernatural experiences are not established as scientific fact and must be ignored for heuristic reasons.) . . .

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Addendum

In the winter 1993 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought non-Mormon historian Lawrence Foster, following Mormon Jungian psychoanalyst C. Jess Groesbeck, attempts a psychological explanation of Joseph Smith. Foster's review of the basic literature on religious leaders and previous psychological writings on Smith show his usual care and insight, but I believe the direction of manic-depressive illness as a basis to help explain Smith's personality is so filled with problems that it deserves some scrutiny.

The necessary symptom for a diagnosis of manic-depressive illness, now called Bipolar Affective Disorder, is a discrete episode of mania with or without episodes of depression. . . .

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It seems to me Foster/Groesbeck must demonstrate repeated episodes of illness in Joseph Smith that reversed his usual temperament and were minimally or not at all precipitated by external factors. Where is such a description of periodicity from his friends or enemies? Without this periodicity of reversal, there can be no real diagnosis of any form of Bipolar Affective Disorder. . . .

How does any form of Bipolar Affective Disorder explain the Book [of] Mormon, Smith's revelations, or the Book of Abraham? At best, it only provides Smith with thoughtful introspection when depressed and energy when hypomanic. It contributes little to the explanation for these "miracles." Foster, as a non-Mormon, must yet provide further naturalistic—psychological—explanations for these texts. Groesbeck, on the other hand, as a believer in the miraculous source for the Book of Mormon, escapes this problem. But with no objective evidence for the Book of Mormon as actual history, all thoughtful outsiders (as well as some insiders) see it as a product of early nineteenth-century America. Groesbeck must be certain that he sees nothing significant in the Book of Mormon that reflects Smith's personal life, his readings, his local religious experiences, or the national scene. Groesbeck must also explain how Smith's revelations and translations escaped contaminations from Bipolar Affective Disorder such as overstatement or grandiosity; or at the other end of bipolarity, exaggerated despair and condemnation.

Here are some of the issues that the diagnosis of Bipolar Affective Disorder does not address: the results of an unstable and deprived childhood with many moves and periods of near-starvation; the results of a traumatic childhood surgery; the effects of being raised in a family with an alcoholic father, a mother predisposed to depression, and repeated failures and minimal esteem in the community; and the effect of being raised in a subculture of magical delusion, requiring deceit of self and others. I agree that Smith demonstrated grandiosity, but I see it as a progressive development going out of control toward the end of his life. It may be that he suffered from an atypical, strange form of Bipolar Affective Disorder in addition, but I do not believe he fits into established categories of the illness. The strongest evidence for this diagnosis is probably his family history, but family members had an incomprehensible burden of conflict to carry. (This could lead to suicide. Schizophrenia is not one of the bipolar spectrum of illnesses.)

Five years ago, paying attention to the recurrent depressive episodes in Joseph's mother and the life-long mental illness of his son, I seriously considered Bipolar II but abandoned it for the reasons given. Frankly I was sorry, for I would have liked to find an explanation for Smith's later excesses that was outside of his control. Other intellectuals in the Mormon world would understand this wish.