Assessing Oswald’s mental health: Personality disorders and motives

[Martin Fox]

Now, my notes on Oswald.

Lee Harvey Oswald arrived in the USSR during a brief thaw in relations. In 1959, about 20 Americans came to the Soviet Union alongside him—some for political reasons, others for marriage, and some as scientists and engineers on contract. During the same period, hundreds, if not thousands, of people left the USSR for the US. The reverse flow was minimal due to the Iron Curtain and ideological barriers on both sides. The USSR didn’t publicize such migrants to avoid provoking the US. If you need specific archival records, Russian friends could request them from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) or the FSB Central Archive—they contain files on foreigners who obtained citizenship.

After failing to secure citizenship, Oswald slit his wrists and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Here, I should explain the Soviet medical system. If someone in the USSR (or modern Russia) self-harmed, ingested poison, or suffered from alcoholism, they were inevitably sent to the neurological ward of a district hospital. The attending neurologist, after stabilization, would administer IV infusions of potassium and magnesium to improve blood microcirculation and neuromuscular function. Once stabilized, a psychiatrist from the mental health clinic would evaluate the patient’s risk level. For severe depression, amitriptyline might be prescribed. The patient would undergo therapy.

It’s possible that the structured oversight and relatively brief treatment at the Minsk clinic helped Oswald.

In the USSR, he was given a factory job, provided housing, and later allowed to marry Marina Prusakova. However, after returning to the US in 1962, his mental state deteriorated again. The American system offered him no support, employment, or psychiatric care—just alternating unemployment, FBI pressure, and escalating paranoia.

Now, let’s summarize what we know about Lee:

No workplace interactions ("He didn’t talk to anyone" — coworkers).

No friends in the military or neighborhood ("Almost zero relationships" — fellow servicemen).

Wife noted his coldness and detachment.

→ Schizoid personality traits (autistic withdrawal, no need for social contact) + paranoid tendencies (suspicion, avoidance).

Could strike a "loved" one.

Provoked neighbors and coworkers ("Defiant remarks to superiors").

Got into fights but rarely started them ("Pushed others into conflict").

→ Impulsivity (BPD), passive-aggressive behavior (narcissistic/paranoid traits).

"I’ll do something to make me famous" (statement to a coworker).

Named himself after Robert E. Lee ("Greatest man in history").

Believed his mission was to change the world (USSR trip, JFK assassination attempt).

→ Narcissistic personality disorder (grandiosity, need for recognition) + compensatory fantasy (due to low self-esteem).

Slit wrists in USSR (1959), hospitalized.

Scars on both arms (possible repeat attempts).

Acted strangely calm after arrest (possibly expecting death, yet his voice trembled in media statements).

→ Depression with suicidal tendencies, BPD (impulsive self-harm, dissociation).

Convinced the FBI was watching him (complaints to Soviet embassy).

Hated authority ("Disliked any form of authority" — coworkers).

Grew more suspicious after US return.

→ Paranoid personality disorder, possible psychotic episodes (if delusional about surveillance).

Wife noted sudden "shutdowns," no response.

After being shot in Japan, calmly said, "I think I shot myself."

→ Dissociative disorder (depersonalization/derealization), rare catatonic symptoms (possible in schizophrenia).

Claimed Marxism but lacked deep understanding.

USSR was an escape from US failures, not ideological choice.

Grew more bitter after returning to America.

→ Overvalued ideas (paranoid radicalism), protest behavior (narcissistic resentment of the system).

Final Psychological Profile (Hypothetical Diagnoses):

Mixed personality disorder (schizoid + narcissistic + paranoid).

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) — impulsivity, suicidality, dissociation.

Recurrent depression — chronic hopelessness.

Possible psychotic episodes (if paranoia was delusional).

Why did he kill Kennedy?

Revenge against the system (narcissistic rage).

Craving fame ("I’ll go down in history").

Indirect suicide (knew he’d be killed).

In other words, Lee Harvey Oswald was neither a "KGB agent" nor a "lone madman," but a man with severe mental pathology—a personality disorder whose inner conflicts led to tragedy.

Kennedy’s assassination was:

The culmination of his hatred for the system.

A final attempt at self-assertion.

Indirect suicide—he knew he’d be killed or executed.

His tragedy lay in his inability to find a place in either the US or the USSR, and his mental illness turned him into an instrument of chaos rather than deliberate evil.

That said, if we entertain the idea that Oswald coldly and rationally planned the murder to financially secure his family, he could be characterized as a calculating pseudo-revolutionary with narcissistic psychopathy.

It’s important to note that many diagnoses and behavioral patterns were not yet known or understood at the time.

But one question still lingers:
How did Oswald cover the distance to the theater, and why did he shoot (or attempt to shoot) at the police officers?

We know that Oswald was applying for jobs up until October 14 in locations that were not along the motorcade route, which effectively rules out the idea of a conspiracy.

However, we do not know the actual conversation between Linnie Mae Randle, Frazier’s sister, and Ruth Paine, along with Marina Oswald, at Dorothy Robent’s house—except from witness testimony. This does not exclude the possibility that memories of that conversation were merely "implanted" through association, and that the job applications were a clever "request" made by Oswald himself or someone else.

[Lance Payette]

Well, that's quite a first post! Hopefully you aren't one of the other Martin's sock puppets.

I find Oswald fascinating. I actually think he defies analysis. I have a relative with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and the medical community agrees that it's almost impossible to treat. Quite probably Oswald was a borderline case of several disorders arising out of his bizarre fatherless childhood with a bizarre Narcissistic mother.

Pretty clearly, Oswald was searching for something that might satisfy him - in the Marines, in the USSR, back in the U.S., in Cuba. He was quite intelligent yet poorly educated. He had some inner sense of superiority and a destiny in history, yet no one would take him as seriously as he thought he should be taken. It had to be extremely frustrating.

Not being sent to Moscow State University and groomed for a political career, as he'd hoped, was another frustration. He was a mini-celebrity in Minsk for a time, but still just a factory grunt and not the sort of celebrity he had imagined. He made almost no attempt to fit in (my wife's sister worked at the same factory) and openly mocked the system; Titovets' book describes risks that were really kind of insane. A middle-class existence, in the USSR or elsewhere, would never have satisfied him.

He returned to the US in anticipation of being met by reporters and achieving some measure of fame, but that was yet another dead end. Maybe he'd be Castro's right-hand man, but that was a dud too.

I think the JFKA was the culmination of frustration on every side: A failing marriage, another grunt-level job to nowhere, the failure of the Mexico City trip. As you suggest, I think the JFKA was essentially a suicide mission and that his escape from the TSBD was a complete surprise. I don't think we can fully explain all his subsequent actions, except that his mind was racing and he was flying by the seat of his pants. I think he finally accepted at the Texas Theater that it was all over and shifted to a plan to cement his place in history with a lengthy trial under the sympathetic guidance of Abt.

David Belin (I believe) said the Tippit murder was the Rosetta Stone. I think the Walker attempt was the Rosetta Stone. It was pretty much senseless and pointless, except perhaps to satisfy himself that he was a true Marxist revolutionary. Assassinating Walker would have made him nothing more than a minor footnote in history, yet he was willing to lose his pregnant wife and infant child for ... what? I think it shows a guy who was already at a level of such frustration and anger that he was willing to assassinate someone who had barely been on his radar screen, and that frustration and anger would only increase in subsequent months.

There's a saying among psychiatrists: "People don't commit suicide because they lose their jobs or their spouses die. They commit suicide because their shoelaces break." We'll never know exactly what wheels were turning in Oswald's head in the hours preceding the JFKA, but the clues are all there throughout his life. I find him somewhat of a sympathetic figure.

And that's my 5 AM, second-cup-of-coffee diagnosis. That will be $0.05, please. If you are one of the other Martin's sock puppets, I can provide an additional diagnosis and extended therapy, but that will require a $25,000 retainer.

[Martin Fox]

Well, that's quite a first post! Hopefully you aren't one of the other Martin's sock puppets.

What’s the point of manipulating these discussions about events from half a century ago? In using multiple accounts to create the false impression of widespread support for your position? ))
Honestly, I had an extremely hard time registering on this forum, and yes, this is my first thread here.

David Belin (I believe) said the Tippit murder was the Rosetta Stone. I think the Walker attempt was the Rosetta Stone.

I’m skeptical of the belief that Oswald tried to kill Walker. At the very least, it’s unproven.
What we know about Oswald’s attempt on Walker comes from someone who heard it from someone else who supposedly heard it from his wife.
Here’s the key question: How exactly does his wife explain it? "Honey, I shot at Walker tonight" — "Okay, dear, good job, but don’t do it again" and then later, "My dear friend Ruth Paine, does Oswald not love me?" Of course, I’m exaggerating and embellishing here.
So, your boyfriend nearly just shot someone — possibly even killed them — which in your country could mean the highest form of social punishment (execution), and in his, the real deal via electric chair… and all you care about is his feelings toward you? Seriously? And this is considering the moral character of a Soviet citizen, which makes no sense — Marina could tolerate that kind of behavior but leaves him over brutal beatings?
A very interesting aspect of the entire Oswald family saga is that his wife, who was fairly well - educated (enough to understand her foreign husband and those around her, and even teach him her language), endured his cruelty toward her without much resistance.
Let’s look at it from another angle. Oswald reads a newspaper, sneers sarcastically, and jokingly asks his wife to take a photo of him as a "fascist hunter, ha-ha" just to mess with a friend.
Either these two were straight out of Bonnie and Clyde, or Oswald wasn’t just manipulating his wife — he was pulling her into his own alternate reality where he was a central figure of historical significance. His behavior — from fantasies about "revolutionary struggle" to performatively reading Marxist literature in public — was all about crafting a miniature cult of personality. Marina, isolated in a foreign country without language skills or support, was the perfect audience for this theater.
It’s interesting that her "betrayal" (leaking information to the authorities) only happened after Oswald crossed the line from domestic tyrant to "enemy of the state." Why did she endure the beatings but "betray" him after his arrest? A paradox of loyalty.