Brain doctor: President Trump may be suffering from a ‘degenerative brain disorder’

For years -- perhaps even decades, Donald Trump has been known for being brash, outspoken and easily confrontational. Those traits have been criticized by some and applauded by many as part of his frank and no-nonsense approach to his career and life in the White House.

But a doctor who specializes in brain injury medicine has suggested in a new article that those very behaviors could indicate that the president suffers from a “degenerative brain disorder" and that he should be tested.

“I see worrisome symptoms that fall into three main categories: problems with language and executive function; problems with social cognition and behavior; and problems with memory, attention, and concentration,” Dr. Ford Vox wrote in a piece published by the medical news site STAT last week.

Vox names a series of specific examples from his time on the campaign trail and in office as signs of a bigger medical problem, including fragmented and repetitive speech patterns, the battles he engaged some Gold Star families in -- and even his regular claim that millions of illegal votes were cast for rival Hillary Clinton, which has not been substantiated by any reputable reporting.

"I see worrisome symptoms that fall into three main categories: problems with language and executive function; problems with social cognition and behavior; and problems with memory, attention, and concentration," he writes. "None of these are symptoms of being a bad or mean person. Nor do they require spelunking into the depths of his psyche to understand. Instead, they raise concern for a neurocognitive disease process in the same sense that wheezing raises the alarm for asthma."

"It’s time to discuss these issues in a clinical context…even if the president has a physical exam early next year and releases the records, as announced by the White House, what he really needs is thorough cognitive testing,” he continues.

He also acknowledges that the evidence provided is not sufficient for a diagnosis, which is why he advocates testing.

SEE MORE: White House announces physical exam for Trump after slurred speech

"It’s entirely possible that the president does not have predementia or is not progressing toward dementia. But he is definitely behaving as such," he adds.

Vox joins a small, but growing chorus of medical experts who have spoke out about the president's behavior in clinical terms.

Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee has written two editorials on the matter in the past weeks, one for NBC and another in The New York Times, stressing the need for medical testing in both instances.

“Trump has already exceeded our usual threshold for evaluation," Lee claimed in his piece for NBC.

If reports are accurate, the behaviors may not not gone unnoticed inside the White House either.

Most recently, Trump's "Art of the Deal" co-author Tony Schwartz said during an interview on MSNBC that a number of White House officials have expressed concerns about Trump’s “mental health."

“I know that two different people from the White House ― or at least saying that they were from the White House and that turned out to be a White House number ― have called somebody I know in the last several weeks to say, ‘We are deeply concerned about his mental health,'" he said.