In a recent trend, more and more people have been calling for President Trump to undergo a psychological evaluation, as if labeling Trump as bipolar, having borderline personality disorder or schizophrenic will suddenly make sense of why he acts the way he does.
There’s a problem here that we need to address: mental illness does not turn people racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic or anything else that Trump has demonstrated over the course of the past few years.
Our society has an inherent need to label and find causation for every bad behavior exhibited by our leaders — especially our political ones. However, our society is so uncomfortable saying “Trump is a bad person with a poor moral compass” that we turn to saying “it must be a mental issue.”
We blame mental illness for problematic thoughts and actions instead of looking to the core of the individual.
While there is an undeniable correlation between certain mental illnesses and reckless, thoughtless behavior, it is entirely ableist to assume that one can only be a bad person if they have a mental illness.
As someone with bipolar disorder, I find myself dispelling tons of stereotypes every day. It’s because we have a lack of education about the realm of mental illnesses and the ways they cause people to act.
However, it’s also because we are fed this idea that anytime someone says something problematic or acts irrationally, it is a sign of mental illness, not poor decorum.
Mental illnesses have become the scapegoat for behaviors condemned by society, and for those of us who live with mental illnesses, it creates a lot of issues. For example, when I fill out job applications, I have to check the box that says I have seen a mental health professional.
Before I can even explain my situation or how I am currently doing, an assumption is made about me. An assumption is made about how my brain works and how I will act because of it — more often than not, these assumptions are far from true.
This is a reality for many people in the United States. To look on and see that people would rather know our president has a mental illness than admit that we elected an unqualified bigot is concerning.
Mental illness does not make people assault women. In fact, those with a mental illness are over 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime. Mental illness does not make someone a rude, caustic, immature person. Mental illness is different for everyone, appears in various forms and actions and can be so well-managed that you wouldn’t even guess someone had one.
Instead of trying so haphazardly to create a diagnosis for Trump, we need to understand that mental illness is not necessary for someone to exhibit poor behaviors. There are definitely people with bipolar disorder that aren’t great people. There are definitely people with it that are. There are also people who aren’t great and yet are very neurotypical, and we need to settle into that idea.
