Trump’s mental health and why people are discussing it

2018-01-06 01:00:00

It is a question that has dogged Donald Trump – fairly or otherwise – since he was elected president: is he mentally fit for office? The question has been raised again by the release of a new book by New York journalist Michael Wolff, which chronicles the first year of the Trump White House. The book – the accuracy of which has been disputed by the White House and queried by others – paints the president as impatient and unable to focus, prone to rambling and repeating himself. Mr Trump has hit back against Mr Wolff’s account, claiming on Twitter to be a “very stable genius” whose “two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart”. But the president’s manner and speaking style have led to armchair diagnoses of a host of ailments, from Alzheimer’s to narcissistic personality disorder – a controversial practice that has divided the medical profession.