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2024-10-14 12:36:28 UTC
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Permalinkdecline as hes lost touch with reality
Exclusive: After President Bidens cognitive decline was heavily
scrutinized, mental health experts tell The Independent they have similar
concerns about Trump
Rhian Lubin
Wednesday 25 September 2024 14:24 BST
Leading mental health experts, including a former White House doctor, have
expressed alarm over Donald Trumps mental faculties, suggesting hes
showing signs of cognitive decline.
Several experts told The Independent their concerns about the Republican
presidential nominee are similar to those they had about President Joe
Biden before he dropped out of the race, warning Trump appears to have
lost touch with reality, as exhibited by the 78-year-olds rambling
speeches and erratic debate performance.
They join a growing number of mental health professionals calling for
independent and objective cognitive testing as Novembers election edges
closer.
Biden, 81, faced a deluge of questions about his mental fitness for another
four years in office following his disastrous debate against Trump in June
when he repeatedly stumbled over his words and trailed off. Now, all eyes
are on Trump, who is prone to incoherent tangents and bizarre musings.
That was on full display at Monday nights rally in Pennsylvania, where
Trump was mocked for his word salads.He said of Kamala Harris: She had
the other interview with the other guy who was a nice guy I think from
Philadelphia from Pennsylvania, he was a nice guy, he was asking her all
these [inaudible] the daily take they dont take like I do! Anybody
wants to go, go what the hell differences they make they have and how
dishonest was ABC...
But Trump insists he is cognitively very strong.
On the campaign trail in Potterville, Michigan, Trump leapfrogged from one
random topic to another
On the campaign trail in Potterville, Michigan, Trump leapfrogged from one
random topic to another (Getty Images)
Earlier this month a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical
College, Richard A. Friedman, said he was alarmed by what he witnessed
during Trumps debate performance on September 10. In an op-ed for The
Atlantic, he said Trump displayed some striking, if familiar, patterns
that are commonly seen among people in cognitive decline.
Dr. Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist who has previously carried out
cognitive assessments for the New York Supreme Court, agrees. He told The
Independent that Trump is really not in a strong cognitive place.
Michaelis who stressed he has not examined Trump in person and could not
offer any formal diagnosis watched the former presidents debate against
Kamala Harris earlier this month, noting that it started at 9 p.m.
Theres a term when youre talking about people with dementia called
sundowning, its a lot harder for them as the day goes on, he said,
suggesting it appeared Trump could have been experiencing those symptoms.
Its very difficult for them to maintain focus on a topic, he continued.
The idea of being able to maintain that level of focus for that amount of
time, that late in the day you wouldnt think twice about it if that was
your grandfather. Its just he happens to be running for president.
When it comes to Trumps rambling speeches, where he has often veered from
one unrelated topic to another, Michaelis said it struck him as
logorrhoea the Greek word meaning excessive talking which can be
associated with dementia.
An example of this was at a speech in Potterville, Michigan, where Trump
leapfrogged from talking about how he lost billions of dollars in San
Francisco to where he ranks in a list of horribly treated presidents. In
another speech, he began talking about bacon and within a minute had moved
on to wind turbines.
Trump has addressed his tendency to venture off topic, bragging about what
he calls the weave.
Psychiatrists observed Trump in the debate and said he displayed patterns
seen in people in cognitive decline
Psychiatrists observed Trump in the debate and said he displayed patterns
seen in people in cognitive decline (AP)
When I do the weave...Ill talk about nine different things and they all
come back brilliantly together, he said. Friends of mine that are English
professors, they say: Its the most brilliant thing Ive ever seen.
But the experts dont agree. Its excessive incoherent talking, Michaelis
said.
Again, I am not diagnosing him with anything, but it can be a symptom of
significant mental illness or dementia. [It is] that inability to maintain
focus and to move in a sort of tangential way from topic to topic.
If youre observing him, [the topics] dont seem at all connected but they
may have some random connection in his mind, thats what seems to be
happening.
Allen Frances is a professor and the chair emeritus of psychiatry at the
Duke School of Medicine as well as the architect of the DSM-IV the manual
for diagnostic criteria of a range of mental disorders.
Frances is very much opposed to the misuse of the diagnostic system, and
in 2016 he did not believe Trump displayed symptoms of a mental health
disorder.
But, from what he has observed from afar, Frances told The Independent he
believes the dial has now shifted, and it is likely Trump has deteriorated
a great deal since he was in office.
First off, he seems pretty incoherent, he said. Its hard for him not to
be tangential, circumstantial, not to stay on message. Hes all over the
place.
Frances cited examples of unfounded claims Trump made in the debate: that
babies are being executed after birth, schools are performing surgery on
children, and Haitian immigrants are eating pets. The things hes saying
suggest hes really lost touch with reality, he said. It seems to me
likely although we cant be definitive about saying anything about anyone
at a distance it seems likely he has deteriorated a great deal.
The psychiatrist, who conceded there is a possibility Trumps behavior can
also be explained as a deliberate attempt to appeal to specific voters,
argued there should be an upper age limit for candidates running for the
presidency.
A number of experts believe there should be an age limit on candidates
running for president
Former White House physician Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who has cared for
Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, agrees there should be a cap on the
age of presidential candidates if they will not agree to undergo objective
cognitive assessments.
We dont let you be an airline pilot because of public safety past the age
of 65, we dont let you be an FBI agent past the age of 57, he told The
Independent. [The President] has the most powerful position in the free
world.
Kuhlman, who has never medically examined Trump, said independent cognitive
testing would provide a much better objective picture of whether a
candidate has some cognitive decline which he added everybody has to some
degree after the age of 60 or if there is a presence of progressive
dementia.
Dementia is more common for those in their eighties, which Donald Trump
will be in about a year and a half, Kuhlman notes.
A cognitive assessment tests a persons vocabulary, spatial visualization,
reasoning, memory and speed. So we know the vocabulary usually stays about
the same, but those other four drastically start falling off past the age
of 70, Kuhlman explains.
Kuhlman whose bookTransforming Presidential Healthcare: Ensuring
Comprehensive Care for the Commander in Chief Amid 21st Century Threats is
out now concurs with the observations of his peers.
If you listen to the debate, or if you listen to his speech every day,
whats missing is reasoning or that critical decision making, he said.
The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.