Table Of ContentA FIRST-RATE
UNCOVERING THE LINKS BETWEEN
LEADERSHIP AND MENTAL ILLNESS
NASSIR GHAEMI
the penguin press
New York
2011
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9781594202957_FirstRate_FM_pi-xii.indd ii 03/06/11 12:48 AM
A FIRST-RATE
9781594202957_FirstRate_FM_pi-xii.indd i 03/06/11 12:48 AM
A FIRST-RATE
UNCOVERING THE LINKS BETWEEN
LEADERSHIP AND MENTAL ILLNESS
NASSIR GHAEMI
the penguin press
New York
2011
9781594202957_FirstRate_FM_pi-xii.indd iii 03/06/11 12:48 AM
THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL,
England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books
Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community
Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi— 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive,
Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books
(South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in 2011 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Nassir Ghaemi, 2011
All rights reserved
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint an excerpt from “Home After Three
Months Away” from Collected Poems by Robert Lowell. Copyright © 2003 by Harriet Lowell and
Sheridan Lowell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Excerpt from Aristotle’s Problemata from “The Paradox of Genius and Madness: Seneca and His
Influence” by Anna Lydia Motto and John R. Clark, Cuadernos de Filología Clásica (Editorial
Complutense, Madrid, 1992).
Excerpt from On the Road by Jack Kerouac (Penguin Books). Copyright © Jack Kerouac, 1955, 1957.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Ghaemi, S. Nassir.
A fi rst- rate madness: uncovering the links between leadership and mental illness / Nassir Ghaemi.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1 -101-50819-0
1. Depressed person—P sychology. 2. Depression, Mental. 3. Leadership—
Psychological aspects. I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Mentally Ill Persons— psychology. 2. Mood Disorders. 3. Leadership.
4. Temperament. WM 171]
RC537.G479 2011 2011010232
303.3'4019— dc22
designed by nicole laroche
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be r eproduced,
stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic,
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editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. Your support
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To my father, Kamal Ghaemi, MD,
and my mother, Guity Kamali Ghaemi,
and for
Heather, Valentine, and Zane
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Why is it that all those who have become above average either in
philosophy, politics, poetry or the arts seem to be melancholy,
and some to such an extent that they are even seized by the dis
eases of black bile?
—Aristotle, Problemata, section XXX
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad
to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at
the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace
thing, but burn, burn, burn.
—Jack Kerouac, On the Road
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CONTENTS
THE INVERSE LAW OF SANITY
INTRODUCTION: 1
PART ONE
CREATIVITY
MAKE THEM FEAR AND
CHAPTER ONE
DREAD US: SHERMAN
23
WORK LIKE HELL—AND
CHAPTER TWO
ADVERTISE: TURNER
40
PART TWO
REALISM
HEADS I WIN, TAILS IT’S CHANCE
CHAPTER THREE 51
OUT OF THE WILDERNESS:
CHAPTER FOUR
CHURCHILL
57
BOTH READ THE SAME BIBLE: LINCOLN
CHAPTER FIVE 68
PART THREE
EMPATHY
MIRROR NEURON ON THE WALL
CHAPTER SIX 79
THE WOES OF MAHATMAS: GANDHI
CHAPTER SEVEN 87
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PSYCHIATRY FOR THE
CHAPTER EIGHT
AMERICAN SOUL: KING
99
PART FOUR
RESILIENCE
STRONGER
CHAPTER NINE 117
A FIRST- RATE TEMPERAMENT:
CHAPTER TEN
ROOSEVELT
130
SICKNESS IN CAMELOT: KENNEDY
CHAPTER ELEVEN 147
PART FIVE
TREATMENT
A SPECTACULAR PSYCHOCHEMICAL
CHAPTER TWELVE
SUCCESS: KENNEDY REVISITED
169
HITLER AMOK
CHAPTER THIRTEEN 187
PART SIX
MENTAL HEALTH
HOMOCLITE LEADERS:
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BUSH, BLAIR, NIXON, AND OTHERS
211
STIGMA AND POLITICS
CHAPTER FIFTEEN 256
EPILOGUE 266
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 275
NOTES 277
BIBLIOGRAPHY 319
INDEX 329
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A FIRST-RATE
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