Some of the conditions described in books on abnormal psychology like those shown in the illustration above can be applied to some members of the crop of loony-tunes people running for office, a grousing gaggle of elected Republicans, and members of QAnon and many in the Trump cult. Of course it is only speculation whether anyone has a diagnosable disorder unless they have had a formal psychiatric assessment or like Herschel Walker has revealed a diagnosis (dissociative disorder or multiple personality disorder) himself.
We can’t and must avoid painting these people with a broad brush.
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Two of the primary ways clinicians determine whether someone has a psychiatric disorder are the extent to which it causes them personal discomfort (depression or anxiety for example) and whether it involves a major distortion of reality (schizophrenia or delusional disorder for example). Significantly, there are other disorders where someone doesn’t personally suffer, they cause other people to suffer. Notably they are those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personalty Disorder which used to be called sociopathic disorder and still sometimes is in reference to Trump.
Whether there are more people with diagnosable psychiatric disorders in the MAGA cult than the general population can’t be determined without a major peer reviewed scientific study of a randomly selected group of them. This would be difficult if not impossible to accomplish since such participation would have to be voluntary.
Just because many of those in QAnon and the Trump cult believe things that are not true doesn’t mean they have a diagnosable delusional disorder because as currently defined they do not fit into any of the subcategories. Each person holding such beliefs has to be assessed individually because as outlandish as they are they are also widely shared by members of their peer group and thus reinforced. They, like members some religious movements, on the usual indices of mental illness, they’d be considered unimpaired. They function well enough until like members of the Jim Jones cult or the Heaven’s Gate cult they commit mass suicide. Examples of religious groups with fringe beliefs, described here, could include members of Happy Science, the Oneida Community, Raëlism, Pana Society, Chen Tao, and others like Scientology which has gone mainstream.
The word abnormal in abnormal psychology can be compared to the dictionary definition of the word to see where it may fit and where it doesn’t.
You can break down the dictionary definition for any of these Republicans, up to and including Donald Trump, by looking at how they fit into each of the three parts shown above.
- The behavior, which includes the beliefs, among these people is typical, usual, and regular. If normal is defined as typical rather than healthy it is certainly normal for this group. Likewise, if deviant is meant to mean usual or accepted standards within their group they don’t fit into this. If it is meant to be deviant as in this “a deviant person or thing: killers, deviants, and those whose actions are beyond most human comprehension” you can debate whether they should be in a group that the dictionary example has kiilers as one example. Their actions may have once been beyond most human comprehension but these days experts have written chapter and verse explaining their actions.
- In this we can say that these people behave in ways that do not conform to the rules or system of a democratic government or civil society but within their group they do not deviate from the type thus their actions are not anomalous or irregular in the group to which they belong.
- Here we have to decide what is to be meant by normal. If we go by the examples of intelligence and development we have to resist impugning the intelligence and development (which I think means maturity) of these people because they are a mixed group which includes Ivy League college graduates and high school drop-outs.
The dual usages of the word abnormal is akin to how the word narcissistic is used. In everyday discourse it is used as described in the dictionary as follows:
The word narcissistic is often used interchangeably with egotistical in conversation describing a self-centered person who isn’t sensitive to other people’s feelings. This is in contrast to what it means in psychiatry when at an extreme narcissism can be the diagnosable disorder, i.e., narcissistic personality disorder or NPD.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) describes NPD as possessing at least five of the following nine criteria.[2]
- A grandiose sense of self-importance
- Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
- Believing that they are "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
- Requiring excessive admiration
- A sense of entitlement (unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with their expectations)
- Being interpersonally exploitative (taking advantage of others to achieve their own ends)
- Lacking empathy (unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others)
- Often being envious of others or believing that others are envious of them
- Showing arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes (Wikipedia)
The Poll:
If you know anyone who believes in the QAnon conspiracy theories and/or is a member of the MAGA cult please comment on your opinion of their overall mental health.
