Joe told Margaret Blackmore that he felt like two people, as if someone else was in him. This is reminiscent of some kind of schizophrenic or multiple personality disorder, and is backed up by the many acquaintances of Joe's who recall his sudden and violent mood changes. Manic depression, multiple personality, schizophrenia (including paranoid schizophrenia), bi-polarity...all of these can exhibit similar symptoms at times, and all of them have been suggested as the cause for Joe's problems.

The core 'person' in a multiple personality is generally not aware of the other personalities at first, and it can be many years before the condition is diagnosed. What they are aware of is blanks in their memories and loss of periods of time, often resulting in situations where, for instance, complete strangers, who have made the acquaintance of one of the other personalities, will recognise them and treat them as friends. There are no examples of Joe complaining of this type of event, although there are aspects of the disorder within his behaviour, such as when he would appear to go off into a trance and then start a totally different conversation in the middle of a sentence.

Schizophrenia is another split-personality type disorder, although not split in the way that a multiple is. Apart from the various depressive reactions it exhibits, which are also seen in many other illnesses, the main reason that schizophrenia has been attributed to Joe is because of his visions/hallucinations (people talking to him from pictures) and the constant fear that someone was watching him. However... Manic depression and bi-polarity have become interchangeable terms now, and manic depression is a bi-polar condition. Personally, I feel that this is the most likely one, although as much of the information we have is unverified or confused, it is totally impossible even for a professional to make a diagnosis. A person with manic depression can have extreme mood swings, which sometimes manifest themselves as total personality changes. These can come in phases, rather like the waxing and waning of the moon, and in fact research has shown that some sufferers actually follow the moon's phases in their 'changes'. This is a the facet of Joe's character about which we have heard from so many people, and it seems to be one of the few things we can believe unconditionally. A psychologist who we have had several opportunities to question on the subject (knowing nothing previously about Joe, or even who he was) described Joe perfectly whilst explaining the condition, and when shown a list of 'symptoms' we compiled, agreed that bi-polarity would appear to be the most appropriate term without more in-depth analysis.

One friend of Joe's characterises him thus: calling the 'nice' part of him Joe, and the 'bad' part Robert, he describes how, at the beginning of his career, Joe was the dominant side, with Robert only surfacing once in a while during times of stress. Joe cared about his family and friends and enjoyed a joke; Robert treated people rudely and threw things around. As time went on, Robert appeared more and more, and these 'phases' gained momentum, until Robert was the dominant person, and the changes could sometimes happen several times a day.

I believe that Joe realised and accepted that he had a problem - in fact, he told John Ginett in a letter that he had been studying psychoanalysis for six years, so it's hard to believe he didn't have some idea - and the mention of a Dr. Crispe implies he was getting some kind of treatment. This could explain the presence of so many bottles of medication in the flat; even today, it can take several attempts and prescriptions to find appropriate medications. The study of mental illness in the UK in the 1960's was way behind other countries, and there still was - and remains today to some extent - a dreadful stigma attached to the subject. Because of this, people with genuine problems avoided seeking help, and could quite easily wind up believing they were going insane, which would only add to the problem.

Whatever the problem was, Joe was not insane, and this was stated unequivocally at the inquest.

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