What psychiatrists think about Trump

[southernhybrid]

Let's forget for a bit about Trump's and Biden's ages, and how seems more forgetful. Instead let's consider the symptoms of severe mental illness exhibited by Trump, especially when viewed by those who have both advanced training and experience in the area of mental illnesses. I'm going to try and add many sources to this post, to show the evidence that Trump is a dangerous man, who suffers from an extreme form of narcissism and sociopathy or psychopathy.

The first one is the opinion of a retired psychiatrist who specialized in treating violent people with mental disorders.

https://www.salon.com/2022/06/27/dr-lance-dodes-is-a-sociopath--but-hes-sane-enough-to-stand-trial/

To discuss those issues and others, I recently spoke with Dr. Lance Dodes, one of America's foremost mental health professionals. He is a retired assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a training and supervising analyst emeritus at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He was a contributor to the bestselling volume "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President." Dodes belongs to a small and courageous group of mental health professionals who consistently sounded the alarm about Trump, both before and during his presidency, arguing that he should never have been allowed to hold high public office and should have been removed at the earliest opportunity.

I have been frustrated for so many years now, really since 2016. I've said this so many times in various settings, but people don't quite get it. Donald Trump is not like other human beings, and you can't treat him as if he is. The news media refused to accept that. He is a severe sociopath, and his willingness to see others suffer and die pushes him into the realm of a psychopath. He lacks the core of normal empathy, and the ability to appreciate that other people have rights. He is a very sick man. Yet the media and others treated him like an ordinary person.

This will take awhile and I encourage anyone else who has some articles that show evidence of the mental disorder suffered by Trump to share them.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/202101/diagnosing-trump-mental-illness

What about health experts? For example, when psychiatrist Jerrold Post diagnosed Saddam Hussein (whom he had never met) as a “malignant narcissist,” was this a professional opinion based on unbiased evidence? If so, then one would imagine that these days health experts have access to a lot more information if they choose to evaluate the temperament, personality, and mental health of Donald Trump.


And countless experts have already done so: They have commented on Trump’s alleged paranoid, sadistic, and psychopathic tendencies; diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder; and suggested he might suffer from neurological conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Naturally, many have questioned his fitness to serve as the President of the United States.


Over 70,000 health professionals even signed a petition, saying “Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States.”

 

[southernhybrid]

I'm not sure if the next one is behind a paywall. I'm a subscriber to Scientific American but I'm not sure if it allows non subscribers to read a certain number of free articles per month, so I'll paste some of what it says.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/

One such person is Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and president of the World Mental Health Coalition.* Lee led a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who questioned Trump’s mental fitness for office in a book that she edited called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. In doing so, Lee and her colleagues strongly rejectedthe American Psychiatric Association’s modification of a 1970s-era guideline,known as the Goldwater rule, that discouraged psychiatrists from giving a professional opinion about public figures who they have not examined in person. “Whenever the Goldwater rule is mentioned, we should refer back to the Declaration of Geneva, which mandates that physicians speak up against destructive governments,” Lee says. “This declaration was created in response to the experience of Nazism.”

Scientific American asked Lee to comment on the psychology behind Trump’s destructive behavior, what drives some of his followers—and how to free people from his grip when this damaging presidency ends.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

What attracts people to Trump? What is their animus or driving force?

The reasons are multiple and varied, but in my recent public-service book, Profile of a Nation, I have outlined two major emotional drives: narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis. Narcissistic symbiosis refers to the developmental wounds that make the leader-follower relationship magnetically attractive. The leader, hungry for adulation to compensate for an inner lack of self-worth, projects grandiose omnipotence—while the followers, rendered needy by societal stress or developmental injury, yearn for a parental figure. When such wounded individuals are given positions of power, they arouse similar pathology in the population that creates a “lock and key” relationship.

 

[southernhybrid]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/ot...tent-with-a-diagnosis-of-dementia/ar-BB1jeks8

Okay. This one does mention symptoms of dementia.

Donald J. Trump has regularly accused his political opponent, President Joe Biden, of being cognitively impaired to the point of being unfit for the office of the White House. But that might be pure projection, if you take into account what one psychologist said on Saturday.



Trump over the weekend spoke at an event in North Carolina, where he suddenly had to pause his speech when an audience member appeared to be suffering from a heart attack or similar event. After several minutes without speaking, Trump thanked the medical workers and then proceeded to talk about tariffs he would impose.
After the speech, many people on social media mocked the former president's numerous verbal slip-ups.

But for one expert, the flubs were more than that. To him, they were evidence of something Trump has accused Biden of suffering from: dementia.

"Trump is now predictably unable to go more than a sentence or two without garbling and slurring his words— and, when combined with his extraordinary word salads, are speech difficulties consistent with a diagnosis of dementia," Dr. David A. Lustig said Saturday. Lustig previously warned people not to get their medical advice from Rush Limbaugh.

I've been saying this for awhile but our few Trump supporters don't want to believe it. No surprise there. I think most of the posters here, regardless of their educational backgrounds realize that Trump, at the very least is a narcissist with psychopathic tendencies. The problem is trying to help those in his cult or those who say they will vote for him over Biden, coming to terms with the fact that the man is not only incompetent but seriously mentally unfit, and potentially very dangerous should he get a second term.

I'm just tired of all the nonsense about Biden, when the real danger is Trump. I'll add more evidence if anyone shows an interest. But, you don't have to be a "shrink" to see the man's total disrespect and lack of compassion for others, or how strong desire to be a dictator.

 

[abaddon]

When Trump mangles a word, his brain is switching the organization of the word around and trying to settle on something that sounds like the word his brain is trying and failing to form. This is called phonemic paraphasia. The cause of this is brain damage. It cannot be demonstrated more finally without a brain scan but if he has this variety of aphasia (which he does) then he HAS suffered some variety of brain injury.

 

[Ford]

I was just talking about this yesterday with my mom. My aunt (the only one left of my mom's generation in the family) has officially been diagnosed with a form of dementia. My uncle (mom's brother) suffered from dementia as well as my granny, and now it's looking like my cousin (who recently turned 70) is perhaps going down that road as well.

We were talking about the difference between simply forgetting someone's name and having actual cognitive decline. I mean, I remember the woman I dated for a few months back in the mid 90s when I was living in El Paso. I could point to the apartment complex where she lived, I remember the night we met, where she worked, the night I broke up with her, and even what she was wearing that night. Her name? Nope. It's just gone.

My aunt had to be hospitalized because she'd forgotten to eat or drink anything for a couple days. One of these things is not like the other.

The thing that blows my mind is that unlike my aunt (who lives alone and has some friends who check in on her from time to time) Trump is surrounded by people whose livelihood depends on him being present and engaged. He's got an entire campaign apparatus, housekeepers, hair and makeup people who get him ready for appearances, attorneys (so many attorneys) and rather than saying "okay, this is a problem...we need to figure out how to take care of him while he struggles with this problem" they just keep the grift going.

We're worried about my cousin because she's only got her husband out there in Kansas City, he's getting up there in years and is probably still in denial about what's going on, but she's not running for the most powerful job in the world.

 

[Patooka]

So fucking what? Has Brandon ever said "Person Man Woman Camera TV"? No? Brandon has dementia then. Also something something ice cream something.

On a side note; ice cream is fucking awesome. How fucked up do you have to be to try and make the argument that ice cream is a derogatory characteristic? (Yes I'm old enough to remember Republicunts making fun of John Kerry eating ice cream in 2004)

 

[Ford]

So fucking what? Has Brandon ever said "Person Man Woman Camera TV"? No? Brandon has dementia then. Also something something ice cream something.

On a side note; ice cream is fucking awesome. How fucked up do you have to be to try and make the argument that ice cream is a derogatory characteristic? (Yes I'm old enough to remember Republicunts making fun of John Kerry eating ice cream in 2004)

Here in AZ, Republicans loved ice cream so much they elected a former ice cream chain CEO as governor. He won twice and was in office until he term limited out and was replaced by (thank goodness) Katie Hobbs.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The Trumpian Sermon on the Mount (on his holiest subject and favorite topic of contemplation.)

I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.
(On TV ratings) I know more about people who get ratings than anyone.
Nobody knows more about trade than I do.
I know more about renewables than any human being on earth.
(on Sen Booker) I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.
Nobody knows more about construction than I do.
Technology -- nobody knows more about technology than me.
I know taxes better than the greatest CPA.
I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world.
I know more about courts than any human being on earth.
I understand politicians better than anybody.

My question about all this: when in his busy schedule does this man find the time to do all this reading and studying? What do you suppose his secret is? It is one of the marvels of our age, and I wish I knew the secret.

 

[Elixir]

I wish I knew the secret.

I suspect it's something like, his audience is so incredibly stupid that they can all look at each other, then look at Trump and agree - The Donald not only knows more about everything than anyone, he knows more about every single thing than everyone else put together. It's a massive communal dunning-kruger delusion. Only THEY know that Trump is the font of all nollidge.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The Oracle Speaks on History

(On the 'Revolutionary War of 1812 and Perhaps Beyond' -- let's call it the Club Sandwich War): The Continental Army...manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rockets' red glare, it had nothing but victory.

Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.

The United States has great strength and patience. But if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocketman is on a suicide mission...

(On the 2016 election) With Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn't be done.

(On the frightening consequences in the 2024 election) We have to win in November, or we're not going to have Pennsylvania. They'll change the name. They're going to change the name of Pennsylvania.


My question about all of this: how many of us would choose to live in a country without Pennsylvania? And do you hear Biden saying a thing about Pennsylvania? As a consequence, should there be an impeachment over the loss of Pennsylvania alone? How much worse could a President be, than to lose one of the 50 states?

 

[ideologyhunter]

The Oracle Speaks on Science and Medicine

(forest fires) I was with the president of Finland and he said, "...We are a forest nation." He called it a forest nation. And they spend a lot of time raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problem.

(covid) We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China. It's going to be just fine.

And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. (To panel of scientists.) And I think you said you're going to test that too. Sounds interesting...And then I see disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleansing? So it'd be interesting to check that. (Points to his head) I'm not a doctor. But I'm, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.

It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear.


A humble question. What if we, as a nation, had simply trusted Trump's you-know-what and taken his lead on covid research? Stop to imagine the lives that might have been saved. 'Might have been' -- such tragic words.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The Oracle Speaks Self-Reflectively (aka A Beautiful Soul Beholds Itself)

Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart...not smart, but genius...and a very stable genius at that.

If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey.

Sometimes they say, He doesn't act presidential..And I said, with the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that's ever held this office. That I can tell you. It's real easy.


My commentary here is presumptuous, but I cannot help but observe how beautiful it is when a truly exceptional being attains the fullest expression of its abilities and then regards itself, majestically, in moments of entranced contemplation. Such is Trump.

 

[blastula]

"Like someone pulled the metaphorical plug": Dr. John Gartner on Trump's "accelerating dementia"

"Trump looks blank, stops in mid-sentence (or mid-word), his jaw goes a little slack"

www.salon.com

In a recent conversation with Dr. John Gartner, a prominent psychologist and contributor to the bestselling book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President," the former faculty member at Johns Hopkins University told me that based on Trump's speech, memory, recall, and other behavior, he appears to be “hypomanic” and cognitively deteriorating at a rapid rate: