150 mental health professionals sign letter calling for psychological assessment of Brett Kavanaugh

Yale School of Medicine’s Dr. Bandy Lee is one of the authors of a letter, signed by around 150 mental health experts and sent to the FBI, to senators, and to a few media outlets. The letter calls for psychological and substance abuse evaluation of Brett Kavanaugh. Dr. Lee made headlines in 2017 as one of the organizing mental health experts to send out a similar letter calling for a psychological assessment of Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration. Dr. Lee was on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman to discuss this new call, highlighting the very real possibility that Brett Kavanaugh has an ongoing alcohol problem that, if unchecked and untreated, would add to the mountain of reasons he should not be a courthouse photographer, let alone a justice of the Supreme Court.

Lee: Some of the troubling signs that we saw were poor regulation of emotion, evasion of questions, exaggerated entitlement, which actually makes someone more likely to be capable of violating others’ rights. Other troubling signs that we’ve seen were paranoia, conspiracy theories, and an inability to have empathy for others. Those were some of the signs that we feel as mental health professionals, it is our duty to call out signs that are abnormal and signs that indicate possibly a troubling condition on the part of Mr. Kavanaugh.  

Lee pointed out that Kavanaugh’s general annoyance with questions about his alcohol consumption and his quick defensiveness are both symptoms of someone suffering from alcohol use disorder. Anyone who has ever dealt with addiction or known someone with addiction issues probably found Kavanaugh’s testimony very triggering last week.