Just on TV replaying his comments from the lobby of Trump Tower: I’m again noticing how he speaks in three and four word sentences and, more worrisome, incomplete sentences and sentence fragments.
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Many of his utterances sound like he’s trying to fit a comment into a 140 character Tweet. He sounds like a primary school kid who is unable to learn the basic Dick and Jane book lessons.
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We also know he seems to be impulsive, as witness his late night Tweet storms. Today’s comments sounded like he was verbalizing Tweets. We have used colloquialisms to describe his behavior: unfiltered, unhinged, unstable, temperamentally unfit, and thin skinned. These terms minimize the fact that what the words describe is not normal.
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Propane Jane, a psychiatrist, titled her front page article yesterday “Instability-in-Chief.”
She writes: It is widely held public knowledge that he rarely sleeps, and spends the wee hours of the morning in fits of rage out of proportion to his perceived slights. It is widely known that he hasn’t supplied comprehensive medical records, has a family history of Alzheimer’s in a first degree relative, and that his children have yet to allow him alone with anyone but themselves. It is widely known that he has yet to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of any of the major issues facing America or the world, and that he immediately becomes defensive and accusatory when confronted with the expectation that he should if he wants to be president. As Hillary Clinton so aptly stated, he’s easily baited and temperamentally unfit. If Donald Trump were a patient in the ER, I would be expected to intervene.
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I recommend reading “Jane’s” excellent and important article. Meaning no disrespect, while a psychiatrist who has had more training in medical diagnosis than me, she doesn’t work primarily with patients with neurological disorders. I want more. Perhaps she can consult with neurologist friends and write another article.
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During my 40 plus year career I observed subtle behavior in three patients that made me suspect a neurological disorder. I referred them to a neurologist colleague. All went through a complete examination including a sleep deprived EEG. Two of them were found to have an often difficult to recognize seizure disorder which could easily be treated with medication. I’ve made many referrals to psychiatrists when I suspected disorders like schizophrenia, and when I thought patients would benefit from medication for anxiety or depression.
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If Trump were my patient, I would definitely refer him to a neurologist.
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This is a plea for a Kossack who is a neurologist to weigh in with more than our own non-medical opinions about whether Trump has some kind of brain disorder. Many of us have speculated about early dementia or Alzheimer’s, or whether he has ADHD.
Tuesday, Dec 6, 2016 · 5:03:54 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
Is Donald Trump a throwback to ancient oratory — or an undisciplined rambler?
This was written before the election…
Trump’s audience finishes his sentences for him, the blanks are filled with sentiments that resonate: fears of joblessness, worries about the United States losing its status as a major world power, concerns about foreign terrorist organizations. Trump validates their insecurities and justifies their anger. He connects on an emotional level, Du Mez says.
"For listeners who identify with Trump, there is little they need to do but claim what they’re entitled to," she says. "No need for sacrifice, for compromise, for complexity. He taps into fear and insecurity, but then enables his audience to express that fear through anger. And anger gives the illusion of empowerment."
In style alone, however, this "emotional" appeal may not be enough to portray a strong leader. As much as the American people look for authenticity and spontaneity in a president, which Trump seems to have mastered, they are also known to value discipline in their leaders.
"Leadership is hard; it needs discipline, concentration, and an ability to ignore what's irrelevant or needless or personal or silly," Pullum says. "There is no sign of it from Trump. This man talks honestly enough that you can see what he's like: He's an undisciplined narcissist who craves power but doesn't have the intellectual capacity to exercise it wisely.”
I vote for him being an undisciplined rambler…. and as I suggest this could be due to a brain disorder...
Tuesday, Dec 6, 2016 · 6:07:59 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
As usual, whenever I write as a psychotherapist (with 40 years of experience) and I speculate of Trump’s diagnosis there are those who lambast me for making a diagnosis at a distance. While not always referring to it, they believe they have to following the Goldwater rule. If you want to learn more about this, and the controversy about psychotherapists gong public with opinions about someone like Trump read this.
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I have written about why I don’t think this should apply to someone as potentially dangerous as Trump. So has clinical psychologist and psychoanalysis Howard Covitz, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA. He has given me permission to quote him at length:
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I recently joined one of the groups that were clearly aligned against the promise of a Trump Presidency. It was a group of Mental Health Professionals who gathered on-line to discuss the Trump phenomenon. Fairly quickly after my joining, there seemed to develop at least one split in the group of participants. One side averred a wish to discuss Trumpism ... as I understand it, the phenomenon of the Strong-Man Leader and the Sheepish-if-Strident followers. The other group, I think smaller and the one in which I felt most comfort, had mixed feelings about breaking the Goldwater Rule while maintaining the Tarasoff Decision ... lemme explain.
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In brief (I found the Wikipedia descriptions of these two general principles quite adequate for anyone interested), the Goldwater Rule prohibits the professional diagnosis of public figures by professionals without clinically meeting with them and without their informed consent. Tarasoff, on the other hand, argues that if, as a professional, you become aware of the possibility that someone is likely to be harmed or abused, you must report this in a manner that makes that abuse or harm less likely.
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Two Goods! Two Goods in opposition to each other in this case of Trump for President. After all, if I -- as a mental health professional -- feel that someone (or 7 Billion someones) might be in danger should a certain Candidate for POTUS become POTUS (e.g., a candidate who openly displays recklessness and lack of empathy and no ability to show any vulnerability in themselves) am I mandated to report this. The Tarasoff ruling requires, indeed, that I report this to the authorities and/or to the person in danger of being harmed, if I professionally fear that it may have such hurtful consequences to other.
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Disagreement on such a matter may appear harmless. It wasn't. A call came in disenfranchising, disfellowshipping, excommunicating me. Hardly an act of violence ... disinviting someone to participate in a list-serv ... Still curious to me that folk cannot disagree in the present environment without, as many have said, disagreeableness or fragmentation. Alas.
www.dailykos.com/...