I don’t have much to report in my chosen area to write about, which is Trump’s psychopathology, here for a second story today except to tell you what made my day.
One of my psychoanalyst friends found a U.S. News and World Report article (under the banner above). It is by:
John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist ( a clinical psychologist) who taught psychiatric residents at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, minces as few words as the president in his professional assessment of Trump. www.usnews.com/...
I suggest you read the entire article. Here are some excerpts:
"Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president," says Gartner, author of "In Search of Bill Clinton: A Psychological Biography." Trump, Gartner says, has "malignant narcissism," which is different from narcissistic personality disorder and which is incurable.
Gartner acknowledges that he has not personally examined Trump, but says it's obvious from Trump's behavior that he meets the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, which include anti-social behavior, sadism, aggressiveness, paranoia and grandiosity. Trump's personality disorder (which includes hypomania) is also displayed through a lack of impulse control and empathy, and "a feeling that people ... don't recognize their greatness.
"We've seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably," says Gartner. His comments run afoul of the so-called Goldwater Rule, the informal term for part of the ethics code of the American Psychiatric Association saying it is wrong to provide a professional opinion of a public figure without examining that person and gaining consent to discuss the evaluation. But Gartner says the Trump case warrants breaking that ethical code.
I have said here numerous times that even if the code covered me (it doesn’t because I am a clinical social worker, not a psychiatrist), I would break it because of what I believe is my ethical duty to warn (the Tarasoff ruling) because Trump is a danger to others.
Also released today, with an attention grabbing headline, is this article from BiPartisan Report.
Excerpt:
Gartner says that individuals with malignant narcissism often lack impulse control and empathy. He also says many who suffer from this disorder believe that others around them don’t recognize their greatness.
‘We’ve seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably,’ Gartner claims.
As Psychology Today notes, “Malignant Narcissists will go to great lengths to achieve their aim. They can be intelligent, high functioning (hold an important job for example) soft-spoken, charming, tearful/seemingly emotional, gracious, well-mannered, kind and have the ability to form relationships. They may lie, falsely accuse, dramatize, smear, cheat, steal, manipulate, accuse, blame or twist to get what they want and feel justified in doing so. Because they are entitled, egocentric and desperate, they do not experience it as wrong.”
Malignant narcissists are:
‘Determined to gratify their wishes and furious if thwarted. Their desire can be so consuming that there is little comprehension of, respect for or ability to empathize with the other. They lack guilt or remorse and tend to feel or pronounce that it is they who have been mistreated. They can be of any gender, race or social class.’
As if that weren’t enough, malignant narcissism is incurable.
Gartner has started a petition to be sent to Senator Chuck Schumer:
Listen to Carl Bernstein reporting the members of Congress are talking to each other about Trump’s psyche driving the news. Maybe they should talk to a few psychotherapists.
But not all.
In my Googling today to see if there was anything I missed about Trump’s psychopathology I came across on article by a psychologist that looked promising. I gave pause when I saw that he wrote a column for NewsMax. However I’d rather a mental health professional not say anything at all than promote this psychologically ignorant and biased (rhymes with) pap.
What a load of horse-hocky:
He goes on from there. Don’t bother reading it… suffice to say he ends with (suppress gag reflex)
Trump stands for decisiveness and a love of American values as nobody has since Ronald Reagan. His brash and sometimes offensive style will always turn some people off. But that is certainly not the same as the soft dictatorship we now endure. Confidence is not, in and of itself, narcissism.
America can only rise again if economic prosperity and free markets return, and when the military is rebuilt with the strongest weaponry ever known. That’s how America experienced a (sadly temporary) resurgence in the 1980s, and that’s the only answer today. If Trump’s classically narcissistic, dishonest and power-hungry opponent wins, we can be absolutely sure that America’s spiral into decline and eventual ruin will continue. The crossroads at which we now stand, and the dangers perpetrated by our current politicians, will touch everyone’s future. And they run deeper than any psychiatric pathology.
So all in all a good day for psychotherapists — and from what I can tell yet another bad day for Trump if only because of the protests at JFK… He sparked a RESIST outrage on a weekend at a location easily accessible by public transportaton to millions (we can hope) in the NYC metro area.
With the stories coming out that perfectly legitimate, well vetted, immigrants, many of whom work for the U.S. government for 10 years, were interrogated for house and then put if handcuffs, he doesn’t just look like he’s lack in compassion. He looks like a sadist.
One of these days he’ll kick his last hornets nest.
Meanwhile: There’s more and more talk (at least on MSNBC) of what I call The 25th Amendment Solution, of simply the:
Just looking back at the very first time I realized how psychologically damaged Trump was, and when I wrote my first story from the point of view of a psychotherapist. That was April 19th.
This is around the time I realized that Trump wasn’t an ordinary narcissist but actually suffered from a severe personality disorder.
The more I observed the way Trump seemed to talk like he’s on amphetamines the more I became convinced that there’s something wrong with the way his brain functions. I’m not talking about all the traits he has of clinical narcissistic personality disorder. I am referring to cognitive functioning. That’s just what this country needs, a narcissist with a broken brain.
Does his obsession with illegal immigration come from having Mexican jumping beans in his brain? That’s how he talks. When faced with a microphone he has to fill empty moments with talking points.
Under the least bit of pressure he demonstrates that his has what therapists like me call a looseness of associations or derailment, i.e. shifting from one topic to another in ways that are obliquely related or completely unrelated. This is often a symptom of serious mental disorders.
Coming out of his voting place this morning, when reporters asked how it felt to be voting for himself, he couldn’t even answer that simple question with a reflective feeling-centered response. He said, apparently referring to himself, that “it’s a great honor for New York.” He had to throw in “my whole reason for doing this is to make America great again.”
That is something that gets therapists to wondering about both a person’s cognitive functioning and their ability to be introspective. If someone isn’t introspective I doubt they have much interest in understanding how other people feel.
One of the prominent characteristics of a narcissist is lack of empathy:
Simply put, narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultraconfidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism. (Mayo Clinic)
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a disorder that is characterized by a long-standing pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), an overwhelming need for admiration, and usually a complete lack of empathy toward others. People with this disorder often believe they are of primary importance in everybody’s life or to anyone they meet. While this pattern of behavior may be appropriate for a king in 16th Century England, it is generally considered inappropriate for most ordinary people today. ( Psych Central )
Of course a narcissist can be a hedonist. There is evidence that Trump fits the definition of a hedonist. A hedonist lives for pleasure. Trump’s life style is hedonistic. The ostentatious trappings of wealth combine with the enormous pleasure he takes in amassing money.
Not to be too syrupy, but what, you may ask this therapist, is my definition of a healthy balance in life? I agree with just about every psychologist and philosopher that a life well-lived is based on love, faith (for some), expressing creativity, making a contribution and doing for others. On the later, nobody has ever suggested Trump is an altruist!
Trump is a New Yorker. He’s speaking in New York, and instead of 9/11, he just referred to that tragic iconic event, an event that changed our world as much as Pearl Harbor, and now is simply known by the date it occurred on as 9/11.
“I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen, down on 7-11, down at the World Trade Center, right after it came down,” Trump said. “And I saw the greatest people I’ve ever seen in action.”
Seven and 11 are the winning first throws in the dice game of craps. This is why novice players sometimes say “seven come 11” before they throw the dice.
One could say that because Trump made a fortune on gambling, and that these numbers are always near the forefront of his consciousness.
This isn’t merely a misspeak, it is a Freudian slip. This tells us far more about Trump and shouldn’t be written off. It has convinced me that he really does want to be president for one reason, and it’s not to make America great again as he says.
It’s so he can be the most powerful person in the world.
Monday, Jan 30, 2017 · 5:10:32 AM +00:00 · HalBrown
The letter that led to the Goldwater rule had only 1,189 signatures, and the manifesto from Dr. William Doherty which made the New York Times, Psychology Today, Politico, NPR and other media had around 2,000… The petition from Dr. John Gartner has, the last time I looked, 3,369 at the close of it’s third day.