As far as jobs go, "leader of the free world" is presumably way up there on the stress-o-meter: A little bit of anxiety is to be expected when you're living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But according to a new study by Duke University researchers that used biographical and secondary sources to retroactively assess the mental health of previous U.S. presidents, a little bit of anxiety was the least of some presidents' mental health issues. In this installment of "By the Numbers," the Daily explores the results of the study, which were published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. (Its ultimate conclusion? "Mental illness in heads of state is a topic deserving further attention.")
0 Previous systematic reviews of the mental health of U.S. presidents
37 U.S. presidents included in the study
1776-1974 Years spanned by the study
18 Presidents who "met criteria suggesting psychiatric disorder" (49%)
14 Presidents who suffered from one psychiatric disorder
4 Presidents who suffered from two-plus psychiatric disorders
24% Portion of those presidents who suffered from depression
8% Portion who suffered from anxiety
8% Portion who suffered from bipolar disorder
8% Portion who suffered from alcohol abuse or dependence
10 Cases in which "a disorder was evident during presidential office" (John Adams, Pierce, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, Johnson and Nixon)
9 Number of those cases in which evidence suggested that the mental disorder's symptoms "interfered with [the president's] effectiveness or performance" (The exception? Roosevelt)
6 Consecutive presidents between 1908 and 1928 who met "criteria for psychiatric disorders"
25th Constitutional Amendment that "stipulates that the Vice President become Acting President whenever the President notifies the Senate and the House of Representatives that he is unable to serve" (for example, in cases where the President is mentally ill)
1967 Year in which the amendment was ratified
0 Times the amendment has been put to use
The information cited above comes from Volume 194(1) of the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
