Downing Street Blues

Download or read book Downing Street Blues written by Jonathan Davidson, M.D. and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting an account of mental illness in British prime ministers from Sir Robert Walpole, generally regarded as the first to hold the position, to Tony Blair, this book reveals how depression, anxiety, dementia, and alcohol or drug use disorders have impacted British leaders over three centuries. It begins with an introduction explaining the principles of diagnosis, the methods used to assess subjects and the assignment of confidence levels in each diagnosis, and the overall significance of mental disorder in political leaders. Individual assessments then follow for each of Britain's 51 prime ministers, revealing how evidence for psychiatric problems was found in over 70% of cases and how the prevalence of mental disorders remained relatively constant throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.