Difficult Decision to Commit a Loved One to a Mental Health Facility

In April 1920, Robert Frost arranged for the commitment of his younger sister, Jeanie Florence Frost, to a state mental hospital in Maine after a severe deterioration in her mental condition. The incident that prompted the decision occurred in Portland, Maine, where Jeanie was taken into police custody during an episode of acute paranoia. Accounts from Frost biographies report that she believed police officers were German soldiers and did not recognize her brother when he came to assist her. The episode took place in the aftermath of World War I, and Jeanie’s condition was described as marked by delusions and disorganized behavior, leading authorities and family members to consider institutional care necessary. Jeanie Florence Frost had struggled with mental illness for years prior to the 1920 commitment. She had lived intermittently with relatives and under informal supervision, but her condition worsened in the late 1910s. Following the April 1920 incident, she was admitted to the Maine State Hospital, where she remained for the rest of her life. She died there in 1929 at age 53. The decision weighed heavily on Robert Frost, who later reflected in correspondence and recollections on his sister’s mental state and the difficulty of the choice. Biographical sources note that Frost described her as emotionally sensitive and vulnerable, and he later wrote about his own awareness of psychological strain within his family.