The Mental Health of the President
Here’s the latest from Practicing Mental Illness:
Calling Donald Trump crazy is an insult to those with mental illness.
Throughout his presidency a large group of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and other mental health workers have declared Donald Trump mentally ill and unfit to be president. In advance of the election, from Mary Trump’s book to the new documentary #Unfit, these people are again promoting the idea of the president’s poor mental health.
I call foul. The ballot box should be enough. Policy can be questioned by the chattering class, but not mental health. How can anyone who is not qualified or has not properly, and in-person, not through the media, assessed a person thoroughly call them mentally ill?
These armchair pundits don’t name the mental illness or cite with verification any specific pathological symptoms. The last time I checked, being reckless on Twitter was not a symptom of anything in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual.
To take these opponents of Trump at their word, it is not any deviant acts that disqualify Trump, but the mere fact that they believe he has a mental illness, and that alone disqualifies the president. Many responsible people have a serious mental illness that they manage, and they function very well. But they still have a serious mental illness. Would these same lambasters disqualify this group of properly diagnosed individuals from doing their jobs?
Every person with a bully pulpit who has so derided the president without a proper assessment has saddled those with serious mental illness with the question of what duties, if any, they each are able to discharge. Hold a job? Raise a family? Lead?
To be so cavalier in diagnosing and dismissing an individual they have never examined can only lead those who have been properly assessed to question their diagnoses from such doctors and therapists so willing to call for the ouster of a President with no actual diagnosis. What about the teacher, accountant, or truck driver who actually does reach out for treatment? Can corporate executives or congressmen be removed from their jobs because someone with a degree, or worse, without, who they’ve never met has the gall to simply declare them mentally ill?
What about the productively employed person who does have a diagnosis and makes a mistake on the job? Is that illness alone legitimate grounds for dismissal?
Those questioning the president’s mental health signal that it is. This can only increase the stigma held against those who suffer from mental illness yet attempt to be self-sufficient, and this attitude on the part of so many in the mental health field and the media can only drive those who are productive and positively contributing to society to avoid treatment when they need it, lest they too be branded incapable of discharging their duties due to the mere fact that they have a mental illness.
There’s damage done when a man freely elected is passed off as mentally unsound by those who oppose him. Sure, he is egotistical, grandiose, and has poor impulse control. He’s rash and has been (for some) an unpopular leader. His character is questionable and he has a difficult personality. Yet many sane people share these traits, and for so many unqualified opinions to question his sanity because of these things is insensitive to the people with actual mental illness who struggle daily against the stigma placed upon them.
We need no psychology professionals violating their own code of ethics concerning diagnostic criteria offering misinformation about a population already limited by stigma. I would hope the extraordinary difficulty of diagnosing a serious mental illness and the fact that such a diagnosis does not automatically preclude a patient from great responsibility will come up, but I fear the slams against the president’s fitness are only political.
Those casting these unsupported stones should realize their accusations serve to further advance the stigma against those with mental illness. These people should be using their influence to promote the promise and possibilities of each person and to insist on acceptance of those who suffer but work to improve their and their families’ position.
Instead, the howls that Trump is unfit reinforce an attitude of “if it’s awkward or uncomfortable it must be crazy” and traps those with mental illness in the corner of limited self-direction and low expectations.
The stigma from the general population due to lack of information, although unfortunate, can be explained. The stigma from professionals who should know better is unconscionable.
A Blatant Plug
The suffering from Covid-19 continues, and the health and economic effects of the virus, we now know, will last longer than we had hoped for or expected. Everyone seeks coping skills. My book Resilience: Handling Anxiety in a Time of Crisis, written this year specifically to address this crisis, can help. See reviews and buy the book here.
Meditation
Meditation has specific benefits that can help a person with a mood disorder predict, prevent and manage changing moods. It can also open up the space and the awareness to allow a person to pause and intervene on their own behalf to help avoid the worst of an episode of depression, mania or anxiety. I discussed this, as well as a bit about my own journey, on the podcast “Dave Smith Dharma.” Please have a listen.