Us president mental illness
The mental rigours of being US president
Published
By Jude Sheerin
BBC News, Washington
Donald Trump is not the first president to be called unhinged. But many of his predecessors are thought to have endured mental health conditions ranging from social anxiety to bipolar disorder and even psychopathy.
In the summer of 1776, the American Revolutionary War was going so badly for the rebels that George Washington apparently attempted suicide by redcoat.
As his militiamen fled in panic at Kip's Bay, Manhattan, the 44-year-old supreme commander lapsed into a catatonic state, according to biographer Ron Chernow.
Washington just sat on horseback staring into space as dozens of British soldiers charged at him across a cornfield.
The future first US president's aides grabbed the reins of his mount and with some difficulty managed to spirit him to safety.
One of his generals, Nathanael Greene, later said the Virginian was "so vexed at the infamous conduct of his troops that he sought death rather than life".
Washington's suspected emotional breakdown illustrates how even the greatest of crisis leaders can snap under pressure.
Fast forward nearly two-and-a-half centuries, and the mental state of his political descendant is under somewhat less forgiving examination.
Presidential psychiatry has been all the rage ever since Donald Trump entered the White House.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,Trump isn't the first president to have his mental health questioned
There's even a publishing subgenre devoted to putting the 45th president on the shrink's couch.
Such titles include The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump, A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump, and Twilight of American Sanity: A Psychiatrist Analyzes the Age of Trump.
Mr Trump - who maintains he is "a very stable genius" - is by no means the first US leader to find himself written off as a lunatic.
John Adams, the second president, was described by arch-rival Jefferson as "sometimes absolutely mad".
The Philadelphia Aurora, a mouthpiece of Jefferson's party, assailed Adams as "a man divested of his senses".
Theodore Roosevelt, the contemporary Journal of Abnormal Psychology theorised, would "go down in history as one of the most illustrious psychological examples of the distortion of conscious mental processes".
While Roosevelt campaigned in 1912 to return to the presidency, prominent US historian Henry Adams said: "His mind has gone to pieces… his neurosis may end in a nervous collapse, or acute mania.
"
After Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, his critics claimed the White House had become an insane asylum, pointing out the bars installed on some first-floor windows of the executive mansion.
But as John Milton Cooper recounts in his Wilson biography, those bars had in fact been fitted during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency to keep his young sons from breaking windows with their baseballs.
And yet, according to a psychiatric analysis of the first 37 commanders-in-chief, Adams, Roosevelt and Wilson did have actual mental health issues.
The 2006 study estimated that 49% of presidents suffered from a malady of the mind at some stage in their life (a figure said by the researchers to be in line with national rates).
Twenty-seven per cent of them were found to have been affected while in office.
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One in four of them met the diagnostic criteria for depression, including Woodrow Wilson and James Madison, said the team from Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.
They also concluded that Teddy Roosevelt and John Adams had bipolar disorder, while Thomas Jefferson and Ulysses Grant struggled with social anxiety.
Professor Jonathan Davidson, who led the study, said: "The pressures of such a job can trigger issues in someone that have been latent.
"Being president is extremely stressful and nobody has unlimited capacity to take it forever and ever."
Woodrow Wilson suffered his stroke in 1919 during a doomed fight to get the Treaty of Versailles passed.
Image source, Underwood Archives/Getty Images
Image caption,First Lady Edith Wilson assists President Woodrow Wilson at his desk in the White House
It left him incapacitated and stricken by depression and paranoia until the end of his presidency in 1921.
First Lady Edith Wilson practically ran the White House, leaving opponents fulminating about "government by petticoat".
By the time Wilson left office, one reporter said, he was a timid and "shattered remnant of the man" he had once been.
Paralysis of bereavement
Two other presidencies are thought to have been destroyed outright by clinical depression.
According to Prof Davidson, a major depressive disorder rendered both Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Pierce ineffectual as leaders after their sons died.
Pierce suffered a horrific tragedy just before his 1853 inauguration. The 14th president, his wife, Jane, and their son, Benjamin, were on a train when it derailed near Andover, Massachusetts.
The carriage was tossed down an embankment and Benny was nearly decapitated. He died instantly.
The 11-year-old had been the only surviving of three sons born to the Pierces.
The Democratic president wrote to Jefferson Davis, his secretary of war: "How I shall be able to summon my manhood and gather up my energies for all the duties before me, it is hard for me to see."
Prof Davidson says Pierce's inner torment led him to abdicate any real executive role as the nation drifted towards civil war.
He was the only president ever elected in his own right to suffer the indignity of being dumped by his party at the next election.
Pierce's sorrow, together with the stress of presiding over a country about to tear itself apart, is thought to have exacerbated his longstanding abuse of alcohol.
He died from ailments related to liver failure, according to biographer Michael F Holt.
Coolidge took office as an upbeat, hardworking and energetic leader.
Image source, UniversalImagesGroup
Image caption,Pierce was devastated by his son's death
But in the summer of 1924 his 16-year-old son, Calvin Jr, went to play on the White House tennis court, wearing trainers without socks.
The boy got a blister on his toe, which became infected, and he died of blood poisoning.
According to Amity Shales' biography, Coolidge blamed himself for the teenager's death.
He ordered gravestones for himself, his wife and surviving son, John, as well as Calvin Jr.
"Whenever I look out of the window," the president would say, "I always see my boy playing tennis on that court there."
His behaviour became increasingly erratic. He would explode with rage at guests, aides and family.
During one White House dinner, he became fixated on a portrait of President John Quincy Adams, remarking that his head looked too shiny.
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Coolidge ordered a servant to rub a rag in the fireplace ashes, climb a step ladder and dab it on the painting to darken Adams' head.
(John Quincy Adams also suffered from depression and used to mope around the White House, playing billiards and irritating his British-born wife, according to a biography by Harlow Giles Unger.)
Coolidge all but withdrew from political life.
Most concerning was his ignorance about economic alarm bells a year before the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
As legislation was considered to rein in rampant stock speculation, he told reporters: "I don't know what it is or what its provisions are or what the discussion has been."
In his autobiography, the 30th president wrote: "When he [my son] went, the power and glory of the presidency went with him.
"I do not know why such a price was exacted for occupying the White House."
Other presidents were able to bounce back from the personal Gethsemane of bereavement.
Theodore Roosevelt battled severe depression early in his political career after the death of his young wife and mother on Valentine's Day, 1884.
Image source, MPI
Image caption,Teddy Roosevelt escaped to the Badlands of Dakota after the death of his first wife
He rode off for a couple of years to the Badlands of Dakota territory, where he built a ranch, hunted buffalo, arrested thieves and knocked out a gunslinger in a saloon.
"Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough," he said.
Abraham Lincoln was prone throughout his life to melancholy, according to biographer David Herbert Donald.
In 1841 in Springfield, Illinois, while serving as a state legislator, Abe broke off his engagement to Mary Todd (they eventually wed) and plunged into deep depression.
A friend put him on suicide watch, removing razors and knives from his room.
It was rumoured in the state capital that he had gone crazy.
Given his morose disposition, aides must have feared how he would cope during the American Civil War with the death of his 11-year-old son, Willie, probably from typhoid fever, at the White House in February 1862.
Later that year, after another humiliating defeat, this time at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln told his cabinet he felt almost ready to hang himself, according to Donald's book.
But despite his grief, the 16th president managed to hold himself together and the union, too.
It was only after Willie's death that Lincoln finally fired his vacillating military commander, George McLellan.
He replaced him with a depressive, shy, probable alcoholic who was squeamish at the sight of blood: Ulysses Grant would lead the Union Army to victory.
'Psychopathic' presidents
Despite the enduring stigma of mental illness, some experts believe it may help certain leaders - up to a point.
A 2012 study by psychologists from Emory University in Georgia found several presidents exhibited psychopathic traits, including Bill Clinton.
The two determined to be most psychopathic were Lyndon Baines Johnson and Andrew Jackson, Mr Trump's hero.
Psychopathic attributes were identified by the Emory team as superficial charm, egocentricity, dishonesty, callousness, risk-taking, poor impulse control and fearlessness.
The research covered every president except the current one and Barack Obama.
Professor Scott Lilienfeld, who led the study, says: "I suspect that in the long run these traits are going to catch up with people.
"So yes, they might allow people to rise to positions of leadership.
"I'm less confident they're going to result in better overall leadership, especially in the long term."
LBJ, for example, had an ego the size of his home state of Texas.
Image source, LBJ library photo by Yoichi Okamoto
Image caption,LBJ was famously domineering
He brazenly stole his 1948 Senate election, then even more shamelessly joked about it, according to Robert Caro's multi-volume biography.
Johnson thought nothing of casually putting his hand up another woman's skirt while his wife, Lady Bird, was sitting right next to him.
He liked to humiliate underlings by summoning them to take dictation while he urinated in a washbasin or defecated in a toilet.
However, LBJ may have caused his own political Alamo with widely suspected lies to the American people about a fake naval skirmish in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964.
Johnson used the incident to dramatically escalate the US war in Vietnam.
But amid the hecatomb of the Tet Offensive four years later, LBJ announced he would not run for a second term.
Andrew Jackson - who signed the ethnic-cleansing Indian Removal Act - is remembered today more for his cruelty than for the enviable accomplishment of being the only president ever to fully pay off the national debt.
And Bill Clinton's reputation, of course, was left in tatters by his sexual impulsivity.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,Was Bill Clinton psychopathic?
Some presidents have handled the strains of the Oval Office less well than others.
Even as vice-president, Richard Nixon was taking prescription drugs for anxiety and depression, along with sleeping pills washed down by alcohol.
John A Farrell's biography details how the unstable Watergate leader drank excessively throughout his turbulent tenure.
White House tapes record him slurring his words amid the tinkle of ice cubes.
Henry Kissinger, his top diplomat, once said Nixon couldn't take a call from the British prime minister during a Middle East crisis because he was "loaded".
His psychotherapist, Dr Arnold Hutschnecker, was the only mental health professional ever known to have treated a president at the White House.
He said Nixon had "a good portion of neurotic symptoms".
And so, is Donald Trump mentally ill?
Prof Davidson's armchair diagnosis is no. He cites debate among psychiatrists internationally as to whether narcissism - a trait so often attributed to the current president - is even a bona fide personality disorder.
But Nassir Ghaemi - author of A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness - believes President Trump has "classic manic symptoms".
The professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston says: "He doesn't sleep much at all. He has a very high physical energy level.
"He's very impulsive with spending, sexually impulsive, he can't concentrate.
"His traits were most beneficial for him during the presidential campaign, where he was extremely creative.
"He was able to pick up on things that normal, mentally healthy, stable persons, like Hillary Clinton, for instance, did not."
The Trump presidency, we are so often told, has shattered historic norms.
But the strange and troubled lives of previous commanders-in-chief seem to raise the question, what is normal?
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Mental Illness in the Oval Office
FEB. 12, 2016
By Luna Greenstein
Living with a mental health condition makes each goal more challenging to achieve and each piece of success more impressive. For those who think that someone living with depression, bipolar disorder or any other mental health condition cannot live a full life and reach their goals, than take a moment to look at the lives of many of our nation’s past presidents.
According to a study done by three members of the Psychiatry Department at Duke University Medical Center, the rate of presidents who lived with mental illness is comparable, or even higher than, the general public.
The leaders of the Duke study scrutinized any histories they could get their hands on to find proof of mental illness including all presidents from 1776 to 1974. They applied their findings against a strict evaluation to determine which presidents we can reasonably assume lived with a mental health condition. Their conclusion stated that 18 out of 37 presidents met criteria suggesting mental illness, roughly half of the presidents from that time period. And 27% of them experienced symptoms while they were in office.
An idea posited in Dr. Nassir Ghaemi’s book A First Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness, states that it seems that living with a mental health condition somewhat prepares leaders to be able to perform well in times of crisis.
“Creativity and resilience is higher in people with mania and realism and empathy is higher in people with depression compared to normal subjects," states Ghaemi.
While there seems to be many presidents who lived with mental illness—Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt being two of them—here are a few you might not have known about.
James Madison
The “Father of the Constitution,” and historical giant, James Madison, lived with major depressive disorder. During his presidency, Madison wrote the first drafts of the U.S. Constitution, co-wrote the Federalist Papers and sponsored the Bill of Rights. He was known for having very little emotional range and passion, often appearing fatigued and gloomy. His depression was defined by inertia, hypochondria and hoping for an early death. His progressive physician encouraged him to exercise by taking walks and going horseback riding instead of the customary treatment for the time, bloodletting.
Woodrow Wilson
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the only president to have a Ph.
D., Woodrow Wilson, lived with generalized anxiety disorder. His presidency was during a time of great historical importance, World War I, which helped cause his anxiety to skyrocket. His coping mechanism for his anxiety was overeating to the point of becoming obese, which in turn led obstructive sleep apnea. His anxiety was also worsened by the loss of his wife during his time in the White House.
Lyndon B. Johnson
A charismatic and exuberant president that took over after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, LBJ’s presidency was characterized by his ability to bring people together across political parties. He worked hard to accomplish legislation on civil rights, environment, health care and education in order to achieve what he deemed the “Great Society.” His presidency was also characterized by his bouts of mania and depression, what we believe was actually bipolar disorder. His symptoms were worsened by the incredibly unpopular Vietnam War, which essentially ruined LBJ’s reputation and mental health.
Richard Nixon
Recent historical findings show that Nixon abused prescription drugs and alcohol during his time in the White House. Some of the pills he was taking regularly were amphetamine-barbiturates, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. The stresses of the Vietnam War and Watergate certainly didn’t help Nixon’s substance abuse problem.
Whether or not it is accurate to claim that mental illness gives you a higher aptitude for leading during times of high stress, it seems more than fair to claim that a person with mental illness can be a successful leader. Don’t ever let your mental health condition determine your path.
We’re always accepting submissions to the NAMI Blog! We feature the latest research, stories of recovery, ways to end stigma and strategies for living well with mental illness. Most importantly: We feature your voices.
Check out our Submission Guidelines for more information.
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Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
US Congressmen Questioned Biden's Appropriateness "Something Wrong" with Biden
"My colleagues and I again ask President Biden to immediately take a formal cognitive screening exam such as the Montreal Cognitive Test. As a former physician to three presidents of the United States, I know what it takes mentally and physically to perform the duties of a commander in chief and head of state,” former White House physician, member of the US House of Representatives Ronnie Jackson told Fox News.
According to him, Biden constantly proved to him and the whole world that "something was wrong." According to the congressman, "The American people deserve absolute confidence in the cognitive abilities of their president."
Jackson noted that Biden's "cognitive test would be an important first step" to convince Americans that the president is right for the job. He also admitted that the test would reveal disorders, so they would have to deal with their "proper treatment.
" The congressman suggested that the US leader could be diagnosed with "Alzheimer's disease, vascular disease, dementia, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis."
US congressmen doubted Biden's mental abilities
Nearly 40 Republican congressmen sent a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to pass...
February 09 21:48
“This is not a party issue. When I discussed taking the cognitive test with President Trump, he sought to reassure the American people and put an end to fake news. Why doesn't President Biden do the same?"
- noted the former White House doctor.
“We can only assume the worst if he does not conform to the same standards that his own party demanded from the previous administration,” he added.
"Mental decline"
According to an American TV channel, recent polls have shown that Americans are unsure of the President's mental fitness for office. That is why 38 congressmen released a letter in which they called on the 79-year-old Biden to take a cognitive test, as his predecessor Donald Trump did in his time.
"Regardless of gender, age, or political party, all presidents should follow the example of former President Trump in documenting and demonstrating sound mental capacity," lawmakers said in a letter.
"While you were undergoing your annual medical examination on November 19, 2021, you either did not encounter a cognitive test, or these results were hidden from the public," congressmen say.
They noted that "The Alzheimer's Association lists 'mood and personality changes', including more 'slightly upset', as one of ten signs of mental decline."
“You showed such a change of heart during the January 24, 2022 cabinet meeting when you apparently didn’t know your microphone was on after you finished your opening remarks and called the White House reporter a “stupid bitch son "... in response to a question he asked about inflation," the politicians stressed in a statement.
Lawmakers also pointed to Biden's stumble when he tried to say how many Americans were boosted against COVID-19, and wrote that gaffes are "not just a recent trend.
"
Biden called a journalist when asked about inflation
US President Joe Biden called a Fox News journalist a "stupid son of a bitch" when answering...
January 25 2:39 pm
Congressmen stated that "the President's mental decline and forgetfulness have become more evident over the past two years."
Champion of awkward situations
Biden is the oldest sitting US president in the history of the country. A politician regularly gets into awkward situations because of his slips of the tongue. So, before the election, he said that African Americans who support Trump are not real blacks.
And for some reason he often calls Vice President Kamala Harris the President of the United States. He also confused former United States leaders Barack Obama and Donald Trump. He explained his oversight with a "Freudian slip." He once promised $100,000 to Americans who would get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Which was not true.
Some phrases and words are difficult for Biden to pronounce.
So it was with the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. One day, the US leader accidentally called the United States military an obscene word. Sometimes he forgets his acquaintances, sleeps at events. He was even nicknamed "sleepy Joe" in the country.
"Biden is a professional"
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has a different opinion. On June 16, 2021, he personally met with the American leader in Geneva. The heads of state then held talks. The next day, Putin said that the image of Biden presented by the press had nothing to do with reality.
According to the Russian president, Biden is a professional who is "totally into the story" and does not miss anything. Putin also noted that, despite the long trip and jet lag, Biden "looked cheerful."
Biden again had problems with the plane
President of the United States Joe Biden, returning from a short holiday in Delaware ...
04 January 20:40
“We talked to him face to face for two, maybe a little more, hours.
He (Biden - Gazeta.Ru) is completely in the material, from time to time he looked into his notes - we all do this, ”RT President of the Russian Federation quotes.
“And the image that is being painted may even dampen the spirits a little, but there is nothing to discourage here, Biden is a professional, and you need to work very carefully with him so as not to miss something. He himself does not miss anything, I assure you, it was completely obvious to me, ”
— said Putin.
He suggested that the fact that Biden "confused things sometimes" is due to the fact that when "people think that some things are secondary, they do not really fix their attention on it."
“So there is nothing unusual here. I repeat once again: he is collected, understands what he wants to achieve, and does it very skillfully, it is immediately felt. But at the same time, the atmosphere was quite friendly, and, it seems to me, we were able to understand each other, to understand our positions on key issues," Putin concluded.
The "disturbing" truth about Biden's condition was revealed in the USA
https://ria.ru/20230219/bayden-1852926194.html
The "disturbing" truth about Biden's condition was revealed in the USA
The "disturbing" truth was revealed in the USA about Biden's condition - RIA Novosti, 19.02.2023
The "disturbing" truth about Biden's condition was revealed in the USA ... RIA Novosti, 19. 02.2023
2023-02-19T06: 47
2023-02-19T06: 47
2023-02-19T15: 04
in the world
Joe Biden
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MOSCOW, February 19 - RIA Novosti. The US administration is hiding the truth about US President Joe Biden's health, which is "alarming," former White House doctor, Republican Congressman Ronnie Jackson, said in an interview with Fox News.
The American leader on Thursday underwent an annual medical examination, as a result of which The White House distributed a five-page text of the conclusion of his attending physician, which states that Biden is able to effectively perform the functions of the president, he is healthy and does not suffer from multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease. Jackson, commenting on the results of the examination, demanded an end to the "withholding" of information about the president's health ."Most Americans see that Biden's mental health is in complete decline, however the White House does not show transparency about what is happening, if anything at all, to address this issue and his (Biden. - Approx. ed.) inability to do their job," said the congressman. According to the former president White House report, the released report "reaffirms that this administration remains adamant about covering up the truth." "This is alarming given that I have already sent three letters to the White House demanding that Biden take a cognitive test and be the results were made public, but they were all ignored.
Everyone can see that something is wrong - withholding information must be stopped," Jackson concluded. Biden, who turned 80 last November, is often the subject of jokes due to reservations or forgetfulness. Sometimes he confuses names or positions present, there were cases when the head of state resorted to the help of those around him in search of a way out of the stage.Also, the US president stumbled on the stairs and ladders of the plane, fell off his bicycle, turned around to shake hands with the void.0005
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in the world, USA, Joe Biden, ronnie jackson
Worldwide, USA, Joe Biden, Ronnie Jackson
MOSCOW, February 19 - RIA Novosti. The American administration hides the truth about the state of health of US President Joe Biden, it causes "alarm", with such a statement in an interview with Fox News was made by former White House doctor, Republican Congressman Ronnie Jackson.
The American leader passed his annual medical examination on Thursday, following which the White House released a five-page report from his attending physician stating that Biden is capable of effectively performing the functions of the president, he is healthy and does not suffer from multiple sclerosis or Parkinson's disease.
White House: Claims about Biden's age are far from reality
February 16, 21:55
Jackson, commenting on the results of the survey, demanded an end to the "withholding" of information about the President's health.
"Most Americans see that Biden's mental health is in complete decline, yet the White House is not transparent about what is happening, if anything, to address this issue and him (Biden. - Approx. ed.). ) inability to do their jobs," the congressman said.
According to a former White House doctor, the released report "reaffirms that this administration remains adamant about covering up the truth.
