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Being president of the United States undermines one’s mental health or else an inordinate number of people with mental disorder have been elected to the post. According to psychiatrists at Duke University (reported in the June Atlantic Monthly), 16 of the 37 presidents from Washington to Nixon “may have suffered from a mental illness.” In ten cases this was manifested during their time in office and “probably impaired job performance.” Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and alcoholism, in that order, were the prominent afflictions. Franklin Pierce lost a son and almost went mad.