Why Mental Health Is A Poor Measure Of A President
Presidents from Lincoln to Nixon appear to have suffered from a range of psychiatric disorders. But mental health professionals say that doesn't mean they were unfit for the office.
The president is a "narcissist." He is "paranoid." He is "bipolar."
No, not President Trump.
These labels were applied to Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Theodore Roosevelt, respectively. And the list goes on. John F. Kennedy had psychopathic traits, according to one academic study. And Abraham Lincoln apparently experienced suicidal depression.
"Many of our greatest politicians have had psychiatric vulnerabilities," says , a psychiatrist and medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But that didn't necessarily make them incompetent or unfit for office, he says.
