Is the President Mentally and Emotionally Fit to Serve?...

This is not 'armchair psychiatry.' It's a call for a responsible, thorough and accurate assessment that prevents irresponsible conclusions.

Given the erratic, impulsive, often immature, and occasionally irresponsible behavior of Donald J. Trump it is understandable that a large percentage of the American people are concerned whether the president is fit to serve in the office he now holds.

It is not necessarily the president's intelligence that is of concern, rather it is his behavior that is being questioned. Most of us have known individuals that are quite smart but lack the emotional maturity and intelligence to lead.

The subject of the debate is Trump’s behavior — impulsive, inappropriate, offensive, reckless and shocking — which we as a nation have tolerated. Is it something more than a mere departure from decency and historical norms? How concerned should America and the world be if the nation’s chief executive acts this way?

As a forensic psychiatrist and a government ethicist, we believe those questions of public health concern should be asked publicly. Indeed, to some extent the president seems to agree with us. Not to frame and discuss these questions leaves public officials, the press and the people — the president’s ultimate employers — to fend for themselves without the benefit of the special expertise of psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals. That can only raise anxiety levels. Nothing is more disconcerting than being left in the dark.

When psychiatric professionals see signs of danger and alert the public about the need for a full evaluation of a government official, that is not “armchair psychiatry.” It is, instead, a call for a responsible, thorough and accurate assessment that prevents irresponsible conclusions. Accordingly, given what we have all observed over the past year, the president’s request for testing in his annual physical should have been met with an in-depth neuropsychiatric evaluation by experts.

Unfortunately, all that he received was a brief screen, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, used to determine whether additional testing is needed for cognitive or Alzheimer’s issues. Here, there are already ample indicators that additional testing is indicated, and the results prove little more than the limitations of a single simple screen. ...

American's, both liberal and conservative, have a right to know whether the President and CIC are stable enough to serve in one of the most demanding jobs in the world.