A Washington DC psychiatrist and former FBI behavioral consultant argues that the President’s annual physical exam ought to include a mental health checkup.

“Historians tell us that while they were in the White House, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan all suffered from brain disorders. Not one of them appears to have been evaluated by a psychiatrist. If they were, that information was kept from the American public

(…)

My experience tells me that had Lincoln, Roosevelt or Reagan gone through a thorough modern psychiatric exam during certain periods of their presidency, their mental impairments could have been easily and clearly diagnosed, and perhaps even treated. Thanks to advances in psychiatry, we can do better. We all deserve the assurance that our highest elected official is of sound mind, as well as body.” Washington Post [via the Spike Report]

Reminds me of when, during Ronald Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign, I was one of a group of medical interns and residents demonstrating in our white coats at a Boston campaign stop. Singled out for a radio interview about the rationale for our protest, I laid out my concerns about his mental fitness for another term and suggested that he was developing Alzheimer’s disease. Didn’t stop him from being reelected…