In Sickness and In Power: Illness in Heads of Government During the Last 100 Years Paperback – 29 Oct. 2009

arrived, as ordered on time., only starting reading it, great read and makes one think about the health and fitness for office of current leaders

Good book. Gives you food for thought. See elsewhere on my Profile page for my review of Time to Declare (autobiography). My youngest sister has had lunch with the author.

It's worrying to know some time our leaders,/ rulers can take us to hell due to their ill health and selfishness above integrity and sincerity to their duties towards their subjects.I

The subject of illness and its impact upon decision making is a fascinating one and David Owen's book manages to make it less than fascinating owing to his turgid style and where he goes off on a tangent of his theme of how hubris gets in the way of rational thinking. What is most surprising is the complete absence of any mention of a rather better and earlier book from 1993 covering similar ground and case studies - When Illness Strikes the Leader: The Dilemma of the Captive Kingby Jerrold M Post and Robert S Robins ISBN 0-300-05683-4.This is a better and more rounded book than Owen's. Both books underline the role that illness has had on world events and how quite understandably wrong or misjudged decisions can be made whether you are physically and/or mentally ill.

An interesting and thought provoking account of some of those that governed us.

Overall, the book seems to imply that for every excursion of human effort made by every pursuer of Public office there is or will be a diagnosable disease of the mind identified, defined and documented by the medical profession, explaining precisely why an individual displays the traits they do in Public office. It seems to be a doctor, (Dr Owen the medical doctor,) who never made it to the top of politics, asserting that those who do make it only make it because they are mad anyway; a sort of "look back in technical anger," a sour-grapes jab at those who made it where he didn't. He doesn't say what's wrong with himself for having tried, of course!

Very interesting, some parts better than others. However it is really poorly written, as if a large number of unrelated case studies had been thrown quickly together. There is very little flow or continuity in the writing, or logic to the way the facts are presented. Surprising for a doctor and politician (as he often reminds us).

Excellent read, a must for everyone who is interested in politics

The physical and mental state of heads of governments (“rulers” to put it bluntly) has always been a serious matter, but is becoming increasingly fateful in the face of climate change, gene editing and other life-and-death challenges facing humankind. This makes the book all the more important. definitely, rulers suffering from capacity-reducing illness or mental vices should be removed from office, temporarily or permanently as the case may be. However, often it is not clear what incapacities a political leader. Thus, for 22 years, over three terms, William Lyon Mackenzie King served successfully as prime minister of Canada. Only after his death was it revealed that he suffered from serious delusions. And what about leaders who rely on astrologers? And about what Tacitus called “Ruler’s Craze” such as escalating narcissism and hubris likely to lead to nemesis?This book takes up such issues, though not all of them. Thus, noteworthy is the striking characterization of what the author appropriately calls “Hubris syndrome”: “a narcissistic propensity to see the world primarily as an arena in which they can exercise power and seek glory rather than as a place with problems that need approaching in a pragmatic and non-self-referential manner; a predisposition to take actions which seem likely to cast them in a good light – i.e. in order to enhance their image; a disproportionate concern with image and presentation; a messianic manner of talking about what they are doing and a tendency to exaltation; an identification of themselves with the state to the extent that they regard the outlook and interests of the two as identical; a tendency to talk of themselves in the third person or using the royal ‘we’; excessive confidence in their own judgement and contempt for the advice or criticism of others; exaggerated self-belief, bordering on a sense of omnipotence, in what they personally can achieve; a belief that rather than being accountable to the mundane court of colleagues or public opinion, the real court to which they answer is much greater: History or God; an unshakeable belief that in that court they will be vindicated; restlessness, recklessness and impulsiveness; loss of contact with reality; often associated with progressive isolation; a tendency to allow their ‘broad vision’, especially their conviction about the moral rectitude of a proposed course of action, to obviate the need to consider other aspects of it, such as its practicality, its cost and the possibility of unwanted outcomes: a wooden-headed refusal to change course; a consequent type of incompetence in carrying out a policy, which could be called hubristic incompetence” (Kindle location 342-361).All political leaders would do well to ponder this statement every weekend as a self-evaluation spiritual exercise.The book also proposes treatments, such as obligatory medical examinations of candidates for rulership, to be evaluated for publication by a “senior politician”.Being both a medical doctor and an experienced politician enables the author to provide pertinent diagnoses and proposals. But it also introduces some weaknesses: his political views on particular leaders and policies unavoidably influence the text. And he expects from medicine more than it can deliver on ambiguous mental issues.I think a shorter book with more concise case studies would serve better to draw attention to what is a real issue. And more than obligatory medical examinations are required to equip voters to make responsible choices and to get rid of rulers losing their judgment. But the book does make a significant contribution to an increasingly grave but neglected problem. It deserves wide attention.Professor Yehezkel DrorThe Hebrew Universdity of Jerusalem

Sir David Owen' book is full of insights into both contemporary and historical figures. In the tradition of Freud, Erikson and a few others, Owen never hesitates to give what he believes to be his best analysis of his "clients". on the basis of always limited biographical information. This book is an excellent read for both professionals, and especially for those who have a keen interest in politics and modern history.

Just ok, a detailed account of the diseases of some heads of state with a too much emphasis on the mental consequences of the exercise of power. Ultimately, both in politics and in the world of corporate CEOs it is inevitable that the pressures of the position take a toll on the equanimity of the indivudual in charge.

Politicians often make the decisions based on many external factors, and their health status is probably the most influential - yet neglected - one. The book provides an excellent historical background as well as an acute insight of a physician. If I could, I would give the book six or seven stars.

Vistas into the inner workings of governments. Level-headed, informative discussion of the constraints affecting psychiatric diagnoses in various contexts. No psychobabble. Revelations often contradicting common opinions that are rooted in nothing stronger than media speculation. An antidote to political punditry.