The Mental Health of The Presidents
An article by David Shribman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette alleges that many of the Presidents of the United States suffered from significant mental illnesses. According to the author, James Madison, John Quincy Adams and Franklin Pierce all suffered from major depressive disorders, Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson were bipolar and Woodrow Wilson suffered from a generalized anxiety disorder. In fact, according to the article, half of the presidents between George Washington and Richard M. Nixon suffered from some sort of psychiatric disorder. He bases these conclusions on diagnoses made by three members of the Department of Psychiatry at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. Their report was published this past winter in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
As one of the psychiatrists, Marvin S. Swartz, puts it, "These are ordinary people in some ways. They are not immune to mental illness." Among the conclusions of these doctors are that a number of presidents had serious mental illnesses including Thomas Jefferson (social phobia, non-generalized), Abraham Lincoln (major depressive disorder, recurrent, with psychotic features) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (major depressive disorder).
The report also alleges that a number of Presidents were alcoholics. Ulysses S. Grant may be a leading suspect, but he was not the only alcoholic president, according to the authors of the study. They also claim Franklin Pierce suffered from alcohol dependence, and Richard Nixon from alcohol abuse.
The Duke investigators examined biographies, histories, medical studies and journals to find suggestions of psychiatric disorders. Then applied this information using diagnostic tools to evaluate whether they could reasonably conclude that an individual president suffered from mental problems.
Some presidents emerged perfectly healthy, mentally speaking, although as Shribman points out, its hard to accept that there was nothing rational about how James Buchanan, let the country slip into civil war, or how John F. Kennedy, let himself get into compromising relationships with dozens of women while he was presiding over tense Cold War years.
The report also concludes that Andrew Jackson was fiercely competitive, but mentally healthy. William McKinley gets a clean bill of health from the Duke psychiatrists. The authors conclude that Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Pierce both developed mental disorders after their sons died tragically. Coolidge's son Calvin Jr. died from a bizarre toe infection after a blister developed during a tennis game. Pierce had three young sons die in infancy, the last in a terrible train accident. According to the report writers, "Neither president was able to commit himself effectively to the task of leadership following such tragic loss,traumatic bereavement may have left each one poorly equipped to discharge the demanding responsibilities of office."
Other presidents overcame mental disorders to emerge as national leaders despite mental problems. The authors write "To contemporaries well acquainted with Madison, Hayes, Grant and Wilson, it must have appeared that, as young men, these individuals were doing very little with their lives, with Grant, in particular, unable to hold down even the most simple employment on account of alcohol problems."
The Duke team did not examine the presidents after Nixon. Shribman speculates that "they would have found that Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush were exceedingly healthy psychologically. We know that Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's late in life and perhaps even in the White House. George W. Bush has admitted freely that he abused alcohol in the years leading up to his 40th birthday. Bill Clinton exhibited colorful personal behavior before and during his presidency, but let's leave it to the next study for a professional diagnosis."
Shribman notes one very important conclusion: there is no evidence that mental illness led to national catastrophe. In fact as he points out, it was a man with severe mental disorders who saved the nation during its gravest challenge, the Civil War.
As one of the psychiatrists, Marvin S. Swartz, puts it, "These are ordinary people in some ways. They are not immune to mental illness." Among the conclusions of these doctors are that a number of presidents had serious mental illnesses including Thomas Jefferson (social phobia, non-generalized), Abraham Lincoln (major depressive disorder, recurrent, with psychotic features) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (major depressive disorder).
The report also alleges that a number of Presidents were alcoholics. Ulysses S. Grant may be a leading suspect, but he was not the only alcoholic president, according to the authors of the study. They also claim Franklin Pierce suffered from alcohol dependence, and Richard Nixon from alcohol abuse.
The Duke investigators examined biographies, histories, medical studies and journals to find suggestions of psychiatric disorders. Then applied this information using diagnostic tools to evaluate whether they could reasonably conclude that an individual president suffered from mental problems.
Some presidents emerged perfectly healthy, mentally speaking, although as Shribman points out, its hard to accept that there was nothing rational about how James Buchanan, let the country slip into civil war, or how John F. Kennedy, let himself get into compromising relationships with dozens of women while he was presiding over tense Cold War years.
The report also concludes that Andrew Jackson was fiercely competitive, but mentally healthy. William McKinley gets a clean bill of health from the Duke psychiatrists. The authors conclude that Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Pierce both developed mental disorders after their sons died tragically. Coolidge's son Calvin Jr. died from a bizarre toe infection after a blister developed during a tennis game. Pierce had three young sons die in infancy, the last in a terrible train accident. According to the report writers, "Neither president was able to commit himself effectively to the task of leadership following such tragic loss,traumatic bereavement may have left each one poorly equipped to discharge the demanding responsibilities of office."
Other presidents overcame mental disorders to emerge as national leaders despite mental problems. The authors write "To contemporaries well acquainted with Madison, Hayes, Grant and Wilson, it must have appeared that, as young men, these individuals were doing very little with their lives, with Grant, in particular, unable to hold down even the most simple employment on account of alcohol problems."
The Duke team did not examine the presidents after Nixon. Shribman speculates that "they would have found that Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush were exceedingly healthy psychologically. We know that Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's late in life and perhaps even in the White House. George W. Bush has admitted freely that he abused alcohol in the years leading up to his 40th birthday. Bill Clinton exhibited colorful personal behavior before and during his presidency, but let's leave it to the next study for a professional diagnosis."
Shribman notes one very important conclusion: there is no evidence that mental illness led to national catastrophe. In fact as he points out, it was a man with severe mental disorders who saved the nation during its gravest challenge, the Civil War.