The article about Donald Trump points out his mental condition. Trump’s mental state is a major concern to some of the politicians in the country; they even wish to question his state of mind but are fearful of the consequences of a further assessment. Republicans are even worried if Donald Trump has the capacity and competence to succeed as a president. Another person urges that, not Trump who is mentally unstable but the people who entrusted him with such powers. Psychiatric Allen Frances asserts that it is the people who are crazy and not Donald Trump. Another key point in the article is to demonstrate that mental illness hardly disqualifies one from the presidency. Mental illness in America is not equated with incapacity (Lozada, 2017).
In the article about The Ethics of APA’s Goldwater Rule, the APA condemned the use of psychiatric commentary for political purposes. The articles' second crucial point is whether Goldwater was fit to serve as President of the United States during the campaign in 1964. The creation of APA’s Goldwater rile in 1973 was about Goldwater psychological capacity to serve in office. The Goldwater rule was then established by the American Psychiatric Association barring psychiatrists from giving a professional opinion about public figures without having done any kind of examination (Kroll & Pouncey, 2016).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The article about Thomas Eagleton and Lawton Chiles depicts politics and mental illness among public figures usually politicians and how the public perceived the news of their mental illness. Lawton Chiles went out on retirement and years later, he was out of retirement and wanted the nomination for Governor. It had only been 24 hours when he was ambushed by reporters about his mental stability because he had undergone clinical depression. Despite the rumors about his mental illness and how incapable he will be, Lawton Chiles went on, won, and won the election. The main point between the two candidates is the disclosure of mental illness, they mental the media expose illness condition (Strout, 1995).
The article about the reflection on the Goldwater Rule elaborates on the actions the American Psychiatrist Association had passed in 1973. It prohibited commentary on public figures about their mental health condition by professional psychiatrists. The Gold water Rule has aided public figures in bad publicities. The general public will not have confidence towards the politicians in discussions, it was, therefore, crucial for the APA to make such a rule to prevent psychiatrist from commenting on mental illness about a certain public figure without professional examination. The rule has faced a lot of criticism in the past because the rule is considered to hamper public education about mental illness conditions, critics suggest that there may be enough information that can be drawn towards mental illness. The critics further indicate that if professional psychiatrists refuse to comment on mental illness then unprofessional people may take center stage (Appelbaum, 2017).
Interpretation of the Goldwater rule was marked first by its establishment in 1973. The American Psychiatric Association following an incident by fact magazine adopted the rule. It was an ethics guideline to protect the reputations of public figures including politicians. The rule has been in recent years faced criticism due to technological advancements in the media industry. It is of no point to bar professional’s psychiatrists from making commenting about mental illness on public figures when journalists and bloggers can easily make such comments without examining the person. This too has the same effect as to when a professional psychiatrist makes such comments. It is, therefore, safe to say that the Goldwater Rule is baseless in a modern day setting. The rule is not effective in modern day politics. The APA association should broaden the rule to cover journalist and authors (Martin-Joy, 2017).
References
Appelbaum, P. S. (2017). Reflections on the Goldwater Rule. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 45, 2, 228-232.
Kroll, J., & Pouncey, C. (2016). The Ethics of APA's Goldwater Rule. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 44, 2, 226-35.
Lozada, C. (2017, September 22). Is Trump Mentally Ill? Or is America? Psychiatrists Weigh In. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2017/09/22/is-trump-mentally-ill-or-is-america-psychiatrists-weigh-in/?utm_term=.a665c4e1c66c on 8/12/18
Martin-Joy, J. (2017). Interpreting the Goldwater Rule. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 45, 2, 233-240.
Strout, L. N. (1995). Politics and Mental Illness: The Campaigns of Thomas Eagleton and Lawton Chiles. Journal of American Culture, 18, 3, 67.
