Is the "Runaway Bride" Still Running?

Is the "runaway bride", Jennifer Wilbanks, still running? She’s nowhere to be found. When she was having her fifteen minutes of fame I received several email questions as to what was up with her. I kept waiting for more information and explanation but very little has come out. She somehow has escaped the pack of media dogs – so far. My best guess as to an explanation is that she has some kind of bipolar spectrum disorder.

In general the best way to understand behavior is to look at its outcome. She got world wide attention but that was not her intention since she covered her head with a blanket going through the airport and then disappeared from media scrutiny. Is she in treatment or writing a book or both? Will we have to wait until next fall’s rating week when she’s featured in the TV movie of the week?

But back to the question, "what was her motive"? She obviously avoided the wedding. We did learn that she had backed out of another engagement with little explanation some time in the past. We also learned that she had been arrested on occasions for shoplifting. In my clinical experience shoplifting is often associated with bipolar disorder. It is a way of stimulating excitement to either help fight depression or fan the flames of hypomania.

The fact that she purchased her bus ticket days before she took off shows that her leaving was not totally impulsive. But it also wasn’t rational. The pain she caused her family and friends defies any logical explanation.

The ultimate evidence is the story she concocted about being abducted. Again in my clinical experience fabrication of wild tales is frequently associated with bipolar disorder. The excitement generated by these extraordinary stories is greater than anything grounded in reality – even a wedding with 14 attendants – a somewhat grandiose fact in itself.

Then finally the pictures of her that have been published – does she look wired or what? The only explanation given to the media has been that she wasn’t running away from her fiancé or the wedding and that she is sorry and seeking help.

Should she be held responsible for the tax payer dollars spent in searching for her? I think yes. I believe it is another example of "guilty by reason of insanity". Unfortunately this concept has not been incorporated into our legal system. We still force jurors and the theater of public opinion to decide between "guilty", i.e., criminal, or "not guilty by reason of insanity", absolving the individual of responsibility. Neither does real justice. No wonder she’s still running.