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Too Sick To Lead: The Lethal Personality Disorder Of Donald Trumphttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-north-patterson/too-sick-to-lead-the-leth_b_10086768.html
excerpt
"...But there is nothing more current or important than Donald Trumps psychological fitness to be president. All the hyperventilation of the media - parsing his positions, pontificating on his strategy and intuition- is a poisonous form of the political correctness he otherwise deplores, normalizing the abnormal by shoehorning him into the usual analytic boxes. And what it yields is, in great part, rubbish.
There is only one organizing principle which makes sense of his wildly oscillating utterances and behavior - the clinical definition of narcissistic personality disorder.
The Mayo Clinic describes it as 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. This is bad enough in selecting a spouse or a friend. But when applied to a prospective president, the symptoms are disqualifying.
With Trump ever in mind, try these. An exaggerated sense of self-importance. An unwarranted belief in your own superiority. A preoccupation with fantasies of your own success, power and brilliance. A craving for constant admiration. A consuming sense of entitlement. An expectation of special favors and unquestioning compliance.
A penchant for exploiting or disparaging others. A total inability to recognize the needs of anyone else. An incapacity to see those you meet as separate human beings. An unreasoning fury at people you perceive as thwarting your wishes or desires. A tendency to act on impulse. A superficial charm deployed to disguise a gift for manipulation.
A need to always be right. A refusal to acknowledge error. An inability to tolerate criticism or critics. A compulsion to conform your ever - shifting sense of reality to satisfy your inner requirements . A tendency to lie so frequently and routinely that objective truth loses all meaning.
A belief that you are above the rules. An array of inconsistent statements and behaviors driven by your needs in the moment. An inability to assess the consequences of your actions in new or complex situations. In sum, a total incapacity to separate the world from your own psychodrama..."
Full Article:
Too Sick To Lead: The Lethal Personality Disorder Of Donald Trump
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-north-patterson/too-sick-to-lead-the-leth_b_10086768.html
unblock
(52,252 posts)nixon, reagan, poppy and shrub were all defective.
Different Drummer
(7,621 posts)niyad
(113,336 posts)BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Yecch.
NAO
(3,425 posts)I think Reagan and Poppy were basically sane, I just despise their ideology and what they did to the country.
Nixon and Shrub had pretty severe psychopathology, but NOTHING like Trump.
Trump is genuinely psychopathic in the clinical (not necessary the colloquial) sense.
Although he's not a clinician, this guy has extensive experience with Narcissists, their behavioral charastics, and the abuse they inflict on their victims:
ProudProgressiveNow
(6,129 posts)niyad
(113,336 posts)WhiteTara
(29,718 posts)that awaits us all if we don't come together and stop him.
niyad
(113,336 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)Hillary are the problem!
Clinton supporters spend so much time trashing Sanders supporters, they can't see their candidate is very very weak and has a penchant for saying whatever she thinks will make her popular.
They seem unable to differentiate the person from the weak platform and even weaker candidate.
They really do not understand that all these calls for Sanders to quit, and all the claims that Clinton has already won, are nothing more than fear-born attempts to subvert due process because they know deep inside, Clinton is not the best candidate.
sendero
(28,552 posts)nxylas
(6,440 posts)A penchant for exploiting or disparaging others. A total inability to recognize the needs of anyone else. An unreasoning fury at people you perceive as thwarting your wishes or desires. A superficial charm deployed to disguise a gift for manipulation.
A compulsion to conform your ever - shifting sense of reality to satisfy your inner requirements . A tendency to lie so frequently and routinely that objective truth loses all meaning.
A belief that you are above the rules. An array of inconsistent statements and behaviors driven by your needs in the moment. In sum, a total incapacity to separate the world from your own psychodrama...
Sounds familiar, and I'm not thinking of Trump.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I bet there are a large percentage of CEOs who are Sociopathic Malignant Narcissists.
The definition of Sociopaths fits many world leaders (Vladimir Putin, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, Mao, etc.), and I'm sure business leaders and managers. It's because the cut throat personalities are the one's that want to be at the top and are willing to do anything to get there.
Bullies also fall into the same behavioral description as Narcissists, Sociopaths and Psychopaths. Being at the top of the heap is their reason to live. Especially if they can destroy others who are a threat to them.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)How can a vile creature like this be the choice of a significant portion of the voting public?
RichGirl
(4,119 posts)Had said "Trump is bad for the country, but good for CNN." Then they went Trump 24/7 because obviously it's more important for a rich man to get richer that what's best for the country.
If you haven't done so already...STOP watching cable news and write Moonves a letter he'll never forget!
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)ever-relevant question.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)...you'll find Donald Trump's picture in there.
arithia
(455 posts)While this article was really well written for the most part, there are valid reasons good psych professionals will not try to diagnose popular media figures/celeb.
If you need the "why" explained to you, I suggest reading this article.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brick-brick/201401/psychologists-should-not-diagnose-celebrities
That "lethal" disorder that the author claims there is no "cure" for is treated by (and improved by) long-term psychotherapy. Using the bully pulpit of the media like this to say "there is no treatment" for the condition can discourage people from seeking treatment.
Trump shouldn't be anywhere near the presidency. We don't need to assign a clinical diagnosis to him in order to justify why he shouldn't be anywhere near the presidency.
eShirl
(18,494 posts)thoughtful
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)The man is clearly mentally ill. I don't think we need professionals to tell us that.
arithia
(455 posts)You would be wise to leave the clinical evaluations to the professionals who, for very good reason, do NOT diagnose people they have not personally evaluated in a clinical setting. If I had a nickle for every incorrect comment about my conditions that I've heard from "untrained laymen" (or quack docs, for that matter) over the years, I'd be a very wealthy woman.
When "untrained laymen" open their mouths about things they don't fully understand (much as the writer of the article didn't understand, as they claimed there is no "cure" for the disease- there is no "cure" for genetics), they run the risk of further stigmatizing mental illness and contributing to the wall of falsehoods that the average person "knows" and believes about serious mental disorders.
Mental illness is a serious and nuanced subject- many people who are ill are too sick to realize they are ill in the first place. Seeking treatment might be beyond their capability, even when presented with credible evidence of their disorder. More often than not, this is the result of biology. While the exact mechanism for onset of NPD isn't known, countless studies of twins point to biological factors as the source for personality disorders. The disease isn't a choice.
Trump is an unapologetic racist. That is a choice.
Trump is an unapologetic misogynist. That is a choice.
Trump is an unrepentant liar. That is a choice.
Trump is a bully. That is a choice.
Trump is a con man. That is a choice.
Imo, nail him for what he chooses to be, not what the fastest derpy swimmer in his daddy's sack made him.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I don't think there could be any doubt about that by anyone's measure. Why are you defending him anyway?
arithia
(455 posts)I'm not defending Trump. I'm attacking the assumptive practice of laypersons assigning mental illness diagnoses to people they have never met and are unqualified to discuss.
http://www.livescience.com/37684-narcissistic-personality-disorder-brain-structure.html
If Trump DOES have this disorder, his brain is broken. By no fault of his own. To sit here and harp on anyone for having a biological mental illness is not much different in terms of prejudice and ignorance as Trump saying that a judge cannot adjudicate fairly because of their race. To diagnose someone with such a serious disorder in order to say "they aren't qualified to be president" isn't much better.
As a layperson, you are missing important data necessary to assign accurate labels. You can say some of his behavior is narcissistic, but beyond that anything is conjecture. Allow me to demonstrate: Based on my observable behavior, which 3 conditions have I been diagnosed with? I've only openly stated one of them.
See the problem now?
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)They are so obvious - look in the DSM and start checking off boxes:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1519417-overview
Sound familiar? Trump demonstrates these traits to such an extreme it's impossible not to notice.
arithia
(455 posts)people keep bringing this up as if it will change my point. I'm not arguing whether or not he exhibits narcissistic behaviors. I'm saying its problematic (at best) and prejudicial (at worst) to remote diagnose people and WHY that is the case.
If he has NPD, it's a biological mental illness, complete with physiological changes to the brain when compared to a healthy subject. He did not CHOOSE to be that way. He may very well be too mentally broken biologically to see his own narcissism (much like Dunning Kruger) and unless you are his personal medical doctor with access to a wide array of clinical testing, the simple fact is you don't know and are making an assumption.
He does, however, choose to be a racist, misogynist, bullying, lying con man. Those are learned behaviors. Why don't we discuss THAT instead?
Either way, I'm done replying if people are just going to keep repeating themselves (or each other) instead of responding to what I actually said. Quoting the DSM at me won't make remote diagnosis any less in bad taste.
ailsagirl
(22,897 posts)Thank you for posting.