Is President Biden Suffering from “Anosognosia?”
His Denial of Reality May Not Be Stubbornness or Defensiveness, But Rather a Symptom of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Observers of President Biden and those who have recently interacted with him have noted excessive stubbornness and refusal to admit the existence of basic factual information. We’ve all experienced elders who are stubborn, but there may be more going on here.
You don’t need to be a doctor to conclude that his more frequent confusion, memory lapses and inability to come up with words is problematic and possibly a “condition,” as Nancy Pelosi recently pondered aloud. Indeed, elderly folks forget things. They can have thoughts that trail off. But at some point, cognitive decline can be characterized as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
The important question regarding President Biden is whether his deep denial and irascibility are mere symptoms of his age or something more. The Mayo Clinic writes:
A person with MCI or dementia often has another change in ability — the ability to see themselves clearly. Just as memory is a type of cognitive thinking skill, like language, executive function, attention, or concentration, we have metacognition, or the ability to step back and see oneself clearly, which is also a thinking skill. And, this thinking skill can frequently be impaired in our patients with MCI or dementia. When it is, we call it anosognosia, or “lack of knowing.”
There are numerous credible reports that President Biden is denying that certain polling exists or what the polls actually say. For example, in an AP-NORC poll published today, 65% of Democrats and Independents say that he “should withdraw and allow his party to select a different candidate.” Last week, in the face of other polling results showing a similar percentage of Democrats who want him to withdraw, the President responded:
All the data shows that the average Democrat out there who voted … still want me to be the nominee,” Biden said. He added: “I wanted to make sure I was right — that the average voter out there still wanted Joe Biden. And I’m confident they do.”
There are good reasons why many Democrats are running around with their hair on fire. They may not know about this aspect of dementia and the features of MCI, but they know something is wrong — terribly wrong.
Richard Quadrino is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. The views expressed are his own.
