Hi,
In 2016, when Donald Trump was elected, a number of colleagues rushed to diagnose him as a personality disordered person. At that time I said it was wrong to do so, not ethical, because none of us had actually met the man, had any personal clinical experience of him, and therefore could not really make a formal diagnosis.  We could share our takes on him as seeming to have traits or characteristics consistent with personality features, but not make a diagnosis.

Well, here we are in 2020 and now the right, people on the right, are being quick to diagnose Joe Biden as being in cognitive decline consistent with dementia or pre-Alzheimer’s. So, what’s fair is fair.  It’s not right to diagnose Biden any more than it was to diagnose Trump.  One can say that sometimes it appears Biden has traits, characteristics consistent with cognitive decline, but one cannot make a formal diagnosis without actually testing the man.  

Having said that I also note that the response to either would be different.  Why is it fair to attack a person you think has a personality disorder but take pity on a person you think has cognitive decline?  We abhor one and have compassion on the other.  Yet, both would suffer mental illness/psychological disorder.  I can’t wait for the debates.  In this corner we have the detestable, loathsome, pathological Trump, while in the other corner we have the poor, likable but cotton-headed pathological Biden. And all the while we will watch as if spellbound by a slow-motion human tragedy as one beats up on the other, and I bet we will not be able to turn away.

Phil
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