, WhoWhatWhy - Most reporters don’t have a problem with mentioning Biden’s age (and
it bears repeating that it’s a perfectly legitimate concern as long as
their conclusions are supported by facts). Yet the same journalists fail
to spell it out for their audiences when Trump does or says something
that is completely insane apart from labeling some of his most
outrageous speeches “rants” or saying the former president is
“unhinged.” But those are buzzwords and not a serious attempt to spell
out that Trump is, to put it in layman’s terms, crazy.
A big part of the reason why the former president’s mental health is not more of a topic of conversation is the so-called Goldwater Rule of the American Psychiatric Association’s Principles of Medical Ethics. It states that “it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion [about someone’s mental health] unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.” That might seem fair in most circumstances, but it is arguably even less ethical to allow a seriously mentally ill person to become president — in particular if that mental illness could negatively impact their performance, which it arguably did during Trump’s first term. After all, there are exceptions to the attorney-client privilege; e.g., a lawyer is allowed to divulge relevant information if doing so prevents death or serious injury.
Another part of the problem is that, as a society, we do not talk
much about mental health, and these disorders are not as easy to
diagnose as physical ailments. If an X-ray reveals a fracture, the bone is broken; a biopsy showing
malignant cells is clear evidence of cancer. In these cases, no doctors
are going to disagree with another doctor’s diagnosis. It’s somewhat different with mental illness, especially in mild or
mainly benign cases which might be open to some interpretation or
differences of opinion.
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