In Her Head: How Did Nowak Snap?

Feb. 7, 2007 — -- How does an intelligent, successful, seemingly well-adjusted woman snap?

It's the question many are asking after astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak was charged with attempted murder in what police are calling a love triangle.

Nowak graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. She has a teenage son and two twin girls. Yet, she drove over 900 miles wearing diapers, donned a disguise and, with a BB gun and pepper spray, confronted Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of fellow astronaut William Oefelein.

On "Good Morning America," psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall shed light on what might be going on in Nowak's head. She said mental illness might have driven Nowak to self-destruction.

"There's a certain category of people who fall into a category of a kind latent mental illness, which is called having a 'psychotic core.' It can be covered by having an articulate, accomplished personality," Marshall said. "But one stressful event can shatter the veneer and reveal the core. It's like when a pebble hits a windshield and shatters it."

Marshall suggested that Nowak sought revenge for the lack of a romantic relationship with Oefelein.

"Once a psychological crisis happens, it exposes the primitive part of the mind that seeks revenge when love is taken away," she said.

If Nowak was mentally ill, NASA might not have known about it.

"If this is a case of 'psychotic core' -- the illness wouldn't be visible until that pebble shattered the windshield," Marshall said. "But it's also possible that she came down with a mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, recently. In that case, NASA wouldn't have detected the condition because she didn't have it yet."

Nowak's behavior resembles that of a stalker. If not from mental illness, her pursuit of Oefelein's girlfriend could have stemmed from a latent stalking personality.