THE LAST TABOO

Frank Rich deserves a medal for his op-ed piece in the December 23 New York Times. I wondered what "The Last Taboo" could be--- incest, cannibalism? He reminded us it was no longer a bar to political office for a man to dally with a woman who is not his wife. Neither is it an obstacle to have done favors for a savings and loan racketeer.

He goes on to say that there is still one private activity that no political wannabe would want to admit to, or be known, even though it is entirely legal and ethical, and even healthy. There is a Democrat by the name of Bruce Babbitt, who declared, "My advice to politicians, from the third grade on, is: 'Don't go near a psychiatrist. It's the kiss of death."'

One need search no longer than to remember the case of Thomas Eagleton. He was the democratic vice-presidential nominee in 1972 when it was publicized that he had been hospitalized for depression. That was the end of him, when it came to aspiration for high public office. Many people thought we can't have a nut who is a heartbeat away from the presidency, which means Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, head of NATO and with his finger potentially on the nuclear button. No, it just wouldn't do.

More recently, in 1988, the news that Michael Dukakis had seen a psychiatrist after his brother's death drove his polls down eight points in a matter of days. Ronald Reagan was quoted as saying, when asked about it, "Look, I'm not going to pick on an invalid." Interesting use of the word, as accented on the second syllable, in'valid becomes inval'id.

Somehow, you are invalidated as a politician if you have seen a psychiatrist. What kind of sense does that make? Is it better to hold public office with an untreated and out of control mental condition? Is that what the public wants?

The fact is, like writers and artists, many politicians are afflicted with manic-depression or bipolar disorder. This cyclic mood disorder with spurts of euphoria and grandiosity is what fuels politicians who have a gift of the gab, or charisma, or the ability to hold forth speaking for hours at a time. If you will remember the German film footage of the speeches of Adolph Hitler, you will see a most impressive and emotional orator, brainwashing the masses to accept horrible crimes as a means to an end of world domination through racial superiority. This was untreated and unrecognized mania.

Similarly, Stalin, who was responsible for at least 20 million deaths of his own countrymen, was a manic-depressive, with grandiose plans for a powerful totalitarian communist state, supposedly putting into effect Lenin's grand plan for a classless society. Stalin and Hitler were also paranoid, summarily executing anyone who was thought to be plotting against him, thereby frightening others into submission and collaboration into unholy alliances with genocidal methods.

It is a mystery how the common people respond to leaders with untreated mania. The people are like sheep, vulnerable and suggestible. They elect leaders and then surrender responsibility for what they do.

Even now there is an effort to educate the public to accept mental conditions on a par with physical conditions. There has recently been a bipartisan effort by Senators Pete Domenici and Paul Wellstone, who have close relatives with mental illness, which resulted in a Mental Health Parity Act. It is intended to inspire corporations to provide mental-care-benefits equal to those for physical health care. It would seem only right and natural, but the bill is full of loopholes at present. What it would take to plug the loopholes is for more influencial Americans, such as heads of major corporations, to come out of the psychiatric closet.

Presently, two prominent Americans have come forth to tell their stories of battling successfully with mental illness. The first is William Styron, whose book, "Darkness Visible" tells his own story in vivid and dramatic terms, as befits the talents of a great writer. The other is Mike Wallace, the enduringly great newscaster, whose face and voice are well known.

Closer to home, Lynn Rivers, a Democratic Congresswoman from Ann Arbor, Michigan, is famous for responding to a caller who asked her on a radio show if she'd ever had a problem with depression. She responded, "Absolutely! Millions and millions of people do." In this case, she won the election anyway.

She goes on to say, "Intuition tells me I'm not the only one of 535 members of Congress who's had this, but more have to step forward... It's very easy for members of Congress to be advocates for mental health treatment, but hard for members of Congress to admit to being consumers of mental health treatment."

When she gave her first speech in her district two years ago talking about her illness, she recalls that an old friend came up to her and asked if she were nuts. She said, "Of course, that is what the speech was about." A press spokesman for Kitty Dukakis said in 1988, that it would take a male member of Congress who said he suffered from depression and is on medication to change the cultural perception that anyone who has had mental illness is "weak and less than whole". It must be remembered that no less a man than Abraham Lincoln suffered from then untreatable depression.

Therefore it would take a modest courage for a man or woman to improve his or her quality of life by getting treatment for a now treatable condition, and to not be ashamed to admit the fact. In fact, many of the admirable and respected leaders of our community are better able to function and carry out their responsibilities with the stability and balance that successful treatment has provided.

Dr. Bloom lives and practices in Grosse Pointe Park. He is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine, a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis. He welcomes comments to his e-mail address: vbloom@comcast.net.