National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), of the United States:
Psychiatry.org (American Psychiatric Association):
Above: Princess Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, Dowager Queen of Sweden and Queen Mother to Kristina.
Above: Maria Eleonora weeps in agonised grief at the sight of the body of Gustav Adolf, her beloved husband, being carried onto the ship at Wolgast in 1633. Painting done by Carl Gustaf Hellqvist in 1885.
From my two-part analysis of Kristina's childhood and adolescence:
For centuries, and until recently, Maria Eleonora has constantly been characterised by historiographers and even by Kristina as a stupid, weak, capricious, silly, superstitious, overly clingy, eccentric, hysterical, exhausting, melodramatic, narcissistic, morbid and clinically insane woman who was prone to violently tearful outbursts at both small and trivial matters and disappointments as well as serious and important ones, and as a deliberately cruel and uncaring mother who saw her child as an unruly and ugly disappointment, embarrassment and spoiled brat. This view of her was compounded by her being German, a foreigner in a foreign land, and the Swedes at the time not understanding the German outlook, customs and culture. They naturally respected her as the widow of their king, but their trust of her waned throughout the 1630s.
It is obvious and doubtless that Maria was suffering from severe depression, anxiety, and likely other mental health problems. Specifically, it is very likely that she had bipolar disorder, which is characterised by alternating between periods of deep depression and abnormally high levels of happiness (known depending on severity as mania or hypomania) that can last for days or weeks between each other; and she likely also had borderline personality disorder, which is a Cluster B personality disorder characterised by a long-term pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships with friends, family and relationship partners, distorted sense of self, impairment of the ability to manage, regulate and control emotions (especially anger), and strong emotional or impulsive actions or reactions that can negatively affect relationships with other people and cause serious emotional pain to the sufferer. People with this condition often struggle with chronic feelings of emptiness, black-and-white, good-or-bad, all-or-nothing type thinking, dangerous or impulsive and sometimes suicidal behaviours, and they can go from loving someone intensely to suddenly not being able to stand them at all, or the other way around, for what seems to other people as trivial reasons or no reason at all. They are therefore often seen as excessively "clingy", "dramatic", "petty", "overbearing" and "obsessive" towards others due to an intense fear of loss, abandonment or rejection, although the frequency and severity of these depends on the person. Today BPD is manageable with therapy and medication, but in the 17th century there was no such diagnosis, understanding or help. Aside from genetic and neurological factors, it can also be caused by environmental and social factors such as negative, damaging or traumatic life, relationship or attachment experiences. In Maria's case, it is likely that her possible BPD began or was triggered when Gustav Adolf left to fight in Germany for the first time after their marriage; and these long, recurring and near-constant separations, as well as the constant and very real uncertainty and danger to his life during them, would have worsened the condition, which in turn would have been compounded by the bipolar disorder.
In addition to this, it is likely that Maria was also suffering from prolonged grief disorder. It is also known in America's DSM-5 as complicated grief, traumatic grief, and persistent complex bereavement disorder, and is characterised by a distinct set of symptoms that begin after the death of a loved one or close friend. Those who suffer from PGD are preoccupied by feelings of grief and loss so intense that they cause clinically significant distress, and symptoms can include depression, emotional pain or numbness, intense feelings of loneliness, and difficulty with managing interpersonal relationships. It is also common for there to be difficulty accepting the loss, constantly thinking about the loss or the person who died, a strong desire to be reunited with that person, feeling that they will not be the same without them, refusal to "move on" out of fear of betraying the deceased person, difficulty believing that the loss has occurred, feeling that life is meaningless without the deceased person, and avoidance of reminders that the person is dead. PGD occurs in 10% of bereaved survivors, although the number can vary depending on definition and sampled populations; it has to significantly affect a person's quality of life or ability to function and last anywhere from at least six to twelve months to be able to qualify for diagnosis, and how close a sufferer was or felt to the deceased person can be a major predictor of how long or intense the grief response is. Grief is, of course, a natural reaction to bereavement or even also non-death loss of any kind, and can vary in severity and duration, but only a small number of grief cases become severe enough to turn into PGD, whereas normal grief often diminishes with time while still staying with the survivor long into the future. Relevant to this case are that risk factors for PGD include high levels of anticipatory grief and if the deceased person died in a violent manner such as homicide.
But regardless of all these conditions, it is certain that Maria Eleonora was not insane or disturbed, and she has never deserved all that stigma or the stigma and dangerously negative stereotypes that sadly and unfairly come with these conditions even today. She was only heartbroken, deeply traumatised, and desperately missing her husband after suddenly and violently losing him in the most permanent way, just as anyone else would react to such a loss, although this was certainly intensified by the above-described BPD; and her mental health was fragile already even before this, although her relationship with Kristina and her extreme levels of disappointment, frustration and impatience whenever the child was stubborn or defiant were unhealthy for both of them and scarring for Kristina. Slowly but surely, though, Maria did begin to heal from her trauma, but she ultimately continued to mourn her husband until her own death in 1655.
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