Psychiatric Speculation Following The Vice Presidential Debate

by Madeline August
 

Did you find yourself questioning the mental health of the candidates during the Vice Presidential Debate last Thursday? Well, “one of America’s leading psychiatrists”*, Dr. Keith Ablow has got it covered. Following the Vice Presidential Debate, Dr. Ablow appeared on Fox & Friends to fill us in on the mental health of Vice President Joe Biden.

Among the accusations were claims that Vice President Biden may currently be suffering from dementia, as well as the possibility that he may have consumed alcohol before the debate. Though Dr. Ablow was clear in saying that he did not perform a psychiatric evaluation on Biden, he did state; “if someone said to me, ‘we want you to do what’s really required to know what happened there’ you have to put dementia on the differential diagnosis. You have to say, bizarre laughter, interrupting. If this were your dad or your grandfather, wouldn’t you say if you brought him to me, Keith, you’ve got to tell me, is he suffering with dementia?” When asked whether Biden’s ability to remember a vast amount of facts and figures was an important symptom in his differential, Dr. Ablow sidestepped the question, preferring to state that he was “speaking as a psychiatrist” and not as a political strategist. Additionally, Dr. Ablow advocated for testing Vice President Biden’s alcohol levels during the debate, insinuating that perhaps Biden may have been drunk.

The DSM-IV defines dementia as follows: "The essential feature of dementia is the development of multiple cognitive deficits that include memory impairment and at least one of the following cognitive disturbances: aphasia, apraxia, agnosia or a disturbance in executive functioning. The cognitive deficits must be sufficiently severe to cause impairment in occupational or social functioning and must represent a decline from previously higher levels of functioning."  It seems clear that any individual who is able to recall a plethora of facts on national television is not fulfilling criteria one of the diagnosis. Additionally, there was no evidence of any of the aforementioned cognitive disturbances. Though Biden’s laughter during the debate may have been controversial, does it really warrant speculation into his mental state?

Even if Dr. Keith Ablow’s differential held any merit, it is important to examine the ethical code of the American Psychiatric Association with regard to diagnostic speculation in the media. Section 7 of The Principles of Medical Ethics reads: “On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his/her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he/she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.” It seems that Dr. Ablow may have overstepped his professional code of ethics in this instance as he acknowledges that he has never actually met Vice President Biden, let alone conducted a psychiatric examination on him.

So you be the judge; is there any scientific merit to the accusations made by Dr. Ablow? Personally, I think it is all just a bunch of malarkey.  

  

*taken from Dr. Keith Ablow’s website (www.keithablow.com) 

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-ethics/about-ethics-group/ethics-resource-center/educational-resources/federation-repository-ethics-documents-online/american-psychiatric-association.page

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev). Washington, DC: Author.