Former U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton – Briefly McGovern’s Running Mate – Has Died

Former U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton died on March 4 at the age of 77. He is most remembered for having been asked to step down as the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1972 after it came to light that he had been hospitalized for depression and had undergone electroconvulsive therapy.

When news of Eagleton’s psychiatric history emerged soon after Eagleton had accepted the vice presidential spot on the Democratic ticket, George McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee, at first stood behind him. “I think Tom Eagleton is fully qualified in mind, body and spirit to be the vice president of the United States and, if necessary, to take on the presidency on a moment’s notice,” McGovern said, according to the obituary published March 5 in The New York Times. Maintaining that he was “1,000 percent for Tom Eagleton,” McGovern continued to back the beleaguered senator from Missouri as the pressure mounted to replace him on the ticket. However, after two weeks of continuing pressure from Democratic party leaders and others, McGovern forced Eagleton to step down, according to the Times obituary. After 18 days as the nominee, Eagleton withdrew for the sake of “party unity.”

Years later, McGovern said that, in retrospect, he was sorry he had forced Eagleton to step down. McGovern has also said that he regarded Eagleton as one of the 10 or 12 best senators he had served with. The Times obituary quotes McGovern: “If I had it to do over again, I’d have kept him. I didn’t know anything about mental illness. Nobody did.”

Eagleton went on to be re-elected to the Senate by Missouri voters in 1974 and 1980. He retired from the Senate in 1987. In 1984, he said that his leading role in legislation to end the U.S. bombing of Cambodia in 1973 was the greatest achievement of his Senate career.

Footnote: I am plenty old enough to remember the events of 1972 in grim detail. The question is, will I live long enough to see the day when a psychiatric history will not be the kiss of death for a candidate running for the nation’s top elective offices?

Posted by Susan Rogers

NPR Reports on Soldiers' Care

Soldiers Say Army Ignores, Punishes Mental Anguish

All Things Considered reports on the Army's treatment of soldiers who seek mental health services. They discuss their perceptions of mental health problems, the serious barriers against getting help, and their experiences with the Army's mental health system. Their opinions vary greatly: Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder a legitimate concern? Are soldiers just looking for an easy way out of another tour in Iraq? You can read or listen to the story here; some additional material about mental health and the Army is offered as well.

posted by j melinn

An American Schizophrenia

Today I was shown by one of my co-workers a recent article published in the Chicago Tribune. It is an interesting and thought-provoking piece dealing with the United States’ frequently changing foreign policy. The author wanted to bring attention to the fact that the U.S. government seems to oscillate between extreme isolationism from and direct intervention in burgeoning democracies around the world.

The problem arises with the article’s title: “An American Schizophrenia”. While I understand what the writer is trying to say, the title uses “schizophrenia” interchangeably with the term “multiple personality disorder”. >
The writer of the article was obviously pointing out that the U.S. government has what could be loosely term a “split-personality”. On the one hand, the U.S. government is intervening in Iraq to bring democracy. On the other, the U.S. government of the 1950s did not intervene when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary. While “split-personality” is not actually a medical term, it is often used to incorrectly refer to people with multiple personality disorder.

Multiple personality disorder is part of a group of illnesses called Dissociative disorders. The term multiple personality is not synonymous with the term schizophrenia. They are two very different mental disorders.

On the NAMI website, multiple personality is described as a disorder in which “an individual has more than one distinct identity or personality state that surfaces in the individual on a recurring basis”.

Schizophrenia “interferes with a person's ability to think clearly, to distinguish reality from fantasy, to manage emotions, make decisions, and relate to others”. It does not cause an individual to have more than one personality. It is a very common misconception that multiple personality disorder and schizophrenia are the same thing. It would do much to dispel stigma and to encourage compassion for people with mental illness, if the public had a deeper understanding of various mental illnesses.

This blog entry is simply to point out that schizophrenia and multiple personality are not the same thing, and that using the terms interchangeably confuses people about mental illness. The more people understand various mental illnesses and how they affect those who have them, the less mysterious they become. The more mental illness is understood, the less stigma there will be surrounding it.

posted by Christa Andrade