Lincoln was contemporaneously described as suffering from melancholy, a condition which modern mental health professionals would characterize as clinical depression. Lincoln suffered depressed mood after major traumatic events, such as the death of Ann Rutledge in August 1835,Donald, p. 57. the cessation of his (purported) engagement to Mary Todd Lincoln in January 1841 (after which several close associates feared Lincoln's suicide),Donald, p. 88. and after the Second Battle of Bull Run.Donald, p. 371. During his life Lincoln experienced the death of multiple close family members, including his mother, his sister, and two of his sons, Eddie and Willie. Mary Lincoln felt her husband to be too trusting, and his melancholy tended to strike at times he was betrayed or unsupported by those in whom he put faith.Schreiner, p. 154. Whether he may have suffered from depression as a genetic predilection, as a reaction to multiple emotional traumas in his life, or a combination thereof is the subject of much current conjecture.Donald, p. 27.
