The "Goldwater Rule" is a guideline that pertains to the ethical standards of mental health professionals, particularly psychiatrists, when it comes to making public statements about the mental health of public figures, such as politicians. It is named after Senator Barry Goldwater, who ran for President of the United States in 1964. During that campaign, a magazine published a survey of psychiatrists assessing Goldwater's mental health without a proper evaluation. This raised ethical concerns and led to the development of the Goldwater Rule.
The Goldwater Rule is a part of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) ethical guidelines, specifically in its "Principles of Medical Ethics" related to the field of psychiatry. The rule states that it is unethical for psychiatrists to offer professional opinions on the mental health of individuals they have not personally evaluated or obtained consent to discuss. This includes public figures whose mental health status becomes a topic of public interest.
The principle behind the Goldwater Rule is to maintain the integrity of the psychiatric profession, protect patient confidentiality, and avoid making speculative or potentially harmful statements about an individual's mental health without proper evaluation. Public statements made by mental health professionals without direct assessment could be misinformed, stigmatizing, and politically biased.
It's important to note that the Goldwater Rule is specific to psychiatrists and mental health professionals governed by the American Psychiatric Association's ethical guidelines. Other mental health professionals may have their own ethical guidelines related to making public statements about individuals they have not personally evaluated.
This rule is derived from the golden rule, that says that do to others or treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Water gold rule states that one should avoid anything that could cause harm or conflict.
Not only for public figures, politicians, etc, Goldwater rule can be applied to day to day practice where some person asks for treatment of someone else who has not been examined by the psychiatrist, just on the basis of narrated history.
The rule is named for US Senator Barry Goldwater, whose political outlook was that of a conservative Republican and who had a flamboyant way of expressing himself. A number of mental health practitioners wrote or spoke about him, claiming to diagnose him with a mental disorder, though they had never met. The Goldwater Rule is now widely agreed upon among psychiatrists--that one should never venture a diagnosis for any person one has not interviewed professionally. (Also patient confidentiality demands we not write or talk about it in public).
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