Pathologizing the President Reinforces Mental Illness Stigma

A large group of psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and other mental health workers have declared Donald Trump mentally ill and unfit to be president. They don’t name the mental illness, or cite any specific behaviors that make him a threat to the country or constitution. They merely state that he is sick and call for his ouster. “Duty to Warn” has signatures of 60,000 mental health professionals, none of whom have assessed the president, on a petition calling for Trump’s removal due to “serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States.” To take the petition at it’s word, it is not any deviant acts that disqualify Trump, but the mere fact that the undersigned believe he has a mental illness, and that alone disqualifies him. Many responsible people have serious mental illness that they manage and they function very well. But they still have a serious mental illness. Would these doctors disqualify this group of patients from doing their jobs? Every one of the signatories of this petition has saddled the seriously mentally ill 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 these doctors and therapists so willing to call for the ouster of a President w...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Ethics & Morality Mental Health and Wellness Minding the Media Policy and Advocacy Psychology Stigma armchair diagnosis Donald Trump News Media pathologizing President Trump Stereotypes stigmatizing Source Type: blogs