According to George Potter and Richard Wellington, only by knowing the harsh conditions found along the southern section of the frankincense trail, can one appreciate the emotional trauma placed on Lehi’s family. Nephi wrote that his family was “exceedingly sorrowful” (1 Nephi 16:20). It appears they were suffering from depression or something closely related. Andrew Taylor who studied in detail the journeys of the early Europeans who traveled across the Arabian wilderness wrote:
For a few, there was the crippling sense of loneliness to contend with, … During the day, they would often be parched and burning from the blazing sun--but at night, they might wake shivering with cold and damp. For all of them, occasionally, there was the specter of abject despair: the challenges to be met were psychological as well as physical.
[George Potter & Richard Wellington, Discovering Nephi’s Trail, Chapter 4, p. 15, Unpublished]