I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said, and I agree that those opining as professionals have a duty to stick to high ethical standards. They shouldn’t be making diagnoses of dementia from afar.
But that said, just as I can quickly intuit a weirdo out in the wild whom I wish to avoid, the instinctual “hink” factor I’ve learned never to ignore, I can watch Trump and size him up with a reasonable assurance that he is a scary, non-normal person who has no business being anywhere near the levers of government. His mental deficiencies are on display for all to see.
Those who can watch and listen to him yet still conclude otherwise, scare me, too.
As I’ve said before, this is the test my Aunt took to determine if she could stay in her room in the care facility, or if she needed to be transferred to the locked dementia ward.
So congrats to Trump; He’s able to stay in his room in the care facility. And that’s really all he should be doing at this point.
Whaddaya mean, “Do ‘they’ let you?” Who’s going to stop you?
I worked with a social worker who used to give these tests as part of her job. She said it is entirely permissible to use a pen & paper to work out the answers. Especially to remember the “I’m gonna give you five words then ask you later” test. She said this is not a memory test-- it’s a test of cognitive ability, and if you have enough brainpower/mental capacity/marbles to think of writing down the words, then by all means, do it.
Part of the test is memory. Not sure every examiner would allow that. Of course, validation of the test is based on the contents of the original paper.
Bear spray^? Tasers^? Yeah, I’d agree those things sound like an overreaction. I’ve never actually seen anyone try to write reminders down in the hundreds of times I’ve given the test. But it is a pretty practical real life solution to poor memory.
I’m not going to trust the “diagnosis” of someone who has just watched Trump’s speeches. I know that someone had the analogy of not needing to be a meteorologist to know if it’s raining, but being able to tell if water is falling out of the sky and being able to diagnose a mental disorder are two very different things. It’s like saying that since you can pick up a pencil you can fly a jet plane.
On the other hand, it’s obvious that something is wrong with him. And I’m not sure that it matters what it is. A diagnosis isn’t necessary.
Well, part of the test is how well you organize yourself to answer the question. Someone who really is in decline would still have difficulty, even using a pencil or a calculator, because they’d likely not remember what the point of the exercise was by the time they found a pencil, et al.