Feb. 7, 2020 Update: Today in Salon:
From Jan. 11th, the counter-point:
Bandy Lee went from calling for the impossible saying that impeachment hearings must include an analysis of Trump’s mental health (Dec. 5th) to, a few days ago urging Nancy Pelosi to petition for Trump being forced to have a psychiatric examination — Pelosi “has the right” to submit Trump to an “involuntary evaluation": Yale psychiatrist Bandy Lee --- to writing this:
This was also reported in RawStory on Jan. 2nd:
Alan Dershowitz may have a ‘shared psychosis’ with Trump: Yale psychiatrist says ‘there is even proof’
Lee seems to have become a regular columnist for RawStory/AlerNet/DC Reports. She also actively posts of Twitter where this is her pinned tweet:
Today’s column is the number five trending story on RawStory today. Aside from her making the definition of shared psychosis (none of these people are psychotic) into a colloquial expression, which I disagree with (see below) she makes excellent points.
Folie à deux, shared psychosis, or shared delusional disorder is a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief and sometimes hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another. (Read more)
Bandy Lee, a forensic psychiatrist from Yale University who edited the best selling book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” is one of six (I mistakenly previously wrote seven) of the most quoted mental health professionals addressing the psychopathology of Trump, his sycophants, and his MAGA supporters. The others are
They were recently quoted in “Iran and Donald Trump's mind: Is this crisis his Reichstag fire?” in Salon.
Without outright making a DSM type diagnosis as Dr. John Gartner has done (saying recently that Trump is a malignant narcissist who could have a hypomanic episode) she uses other words like assessment. This is probably a small point to most readers not in the mental health profession: you say tomato and I say toe-mat-oh.
Here’s an excerpt (my emphasis)
First, allow me to remark on methodology. Ordinarily, I state that analyzing a public figure is complex, and have previously declined to comment on Kim Jong-un or Vladimir Putin. In order to offer a responsible analysis that is medically sound, an abundance of high-quality information is necessary.
Rarely do we have the amount that Donald Trump offers, with decades of candid interviews and clips; numerous collateral reports by close associates, many under sworn testimony; and direct, unfiltered, near-hourly reporting of thoughts (a full diagnosis needs more, although a personal examination is not the deciding issue, as it can in some cases be harmful in assessing personalities that deceive or charm).
With Giuliani, however, I can make an exception.
Power may corrupt ordinary individuals, but it radically transforms dangerously pathological figures beyond what people can imagine.
I can do so because, like many of Trump’s followers, he seems to be an extension of the president’s psychology. How is this possible? There can be a contagion of symptoms, as in the phenomenon of “shared psychosis,” further explained below. I also have some references on Giuliani as a long-term New Yorker that corroborate my assessment. Finally, I feel justified in sharing the findings because of the danger he poses (as a strong adherent to the original “Goldwater rule,” I am opposed to commenting frivolously on public figures unless they pose a danger to public health).
Bandy Lee just got the attention of another Trump sycophant who happens to be as well known an attorney as Rudy Giuliani with several tweets which led to this article:
Alan Dershowitz may have a ‘shared psychosis’ with Trump: Yale psychiatrist says ‘there is even proof’
Here’s his response:
Yale Psychiatrist Issues Diagnosis of "Psychotic" for Defending Constitutional Rights
by Alan M. Dershowitz January 11, 2020 at 5:00 am
www.gatestoneinstitute.org/...
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Dr. Bandy Lee is literally claiming that we are mentally ill and our views should be considered symptoms of our illness, rather than as legitimate ideas.
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Publicly offering "professional opinions" or diagnoses in the absence of a psychiatric examination, is a violation of psychiatric ethics and the rules of the American Psychiatric Association.
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Dr. Lee has a history of such unethical conduct....
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Her resort to diagnosis rather than dialogue is a symptom of a much larger problem that faces our divided nation -- too many Americans are refusing to engage in reasoned dialogue with people with whom they disagree. Dr. Lee is part of that problem, not its solution.
Here’s another choice excerpt:
If it is difficult to imagine Dr. Lee as an effective forensic witness, just try to imagine her as a fair teacher. Even at Yale, some of her students are likely to be Trump followers. Would she grade them -- or diagnose them? Would she prescribe anti-psychotic drugs to her students who she believed were Trump "followers"? Would she refuse to recommend them because of their illness? Would they be entitled to the protection of the American with Disabilities Act? Does she teach her students to diagnose their classmates and friends who disagree with them politically, instead of engaging with them?
Because Bandy Lee has made herself the highest profile psychiatric critic of Trump she has not only received death threats but is the subject of attacks by right wing bloggers, for example in “The Solution to Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
This honor of being the primary mental health professional who is the subject of vicious attacks may have to be shared before too long. John Gartner’s documentary “#UNFIT:Malignant Narcissism comes to Washington” is now in post-production.
