The DSM and the Mental Illness of George W. Bush

[madison2000]

http://members.cruzio.com/~zdino/writings/mentalHealthOfGWBush.htm

our great president

[stevedeshazer]

1. I have long believed that it's NPD

From your link:
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Narcissistic Personality Disorder (DSM 301.81).
Look for:

1. a pervasive pattern of grandiosity,
2. a need for admiration.
3. a lack of empathy

Usually it begins by early adulthood and is indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Grandiose sense of self-importance.
2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Beliefs that one is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions.
4. Requirement of excessive admiration.
5. Demonstrations of a sense of entitlement.
6. Interpersonally exploitation.
7. Lack of empathy.
8. Envy of others or belief that is the target of others' envy.
9. Arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.

For differential diagnoses consider also:

* Histrionic Personality Disorder
* Antisocial Personality Disorder (DSM 301.7).
* Borderline Personality Disorder
* Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
* Schizotypal Personality Disorder
* Paranoid Personality Disorder
* Manic Episodes
* Hypomanic Episodes
* Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition;
* Symptoms that may develop in association with chronic substance use.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Google "Sam Vaknin"

He is the MAN when it comes to NPD. I am sure he has something to enlighten you on it.

[stevedeshazer]

5. Thanks, that just reinforces my thoughts on Bush and NPD.

Excerpt here from Dr. Vaknin online conference at http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Personality_Disorders/Site/Transcripts/narcissism.htm

Dr. Vaknin: Everyone is a narcissist, to varying degrees. Narcissism is a healthy phenomenon. It helps survival. The difference between healthy and pathological narcissism is, indeed, in measure.

Pathological narcissism and its extreme form, NPD, is characterized by extreme lack of empathy. The narcissist regards and treats other people as objects to be exploited. He uses them to obtain narcissistic supply. He believes that he is entitled to special treatment because he harbours these grandiose fantasies about himself. The narcissist is NOT self-aware. His cognition and emotions are distorted.

David: In your book and other writings, you paint a very undesirable picture of a narcissist as someone who lacks empathy, uses others to fulfill their own ego needs, a pathological liar. What kinds of problems does this create for the narcissist and can they be treated at all?

Dr. Vaknin: Narcissism cannot be treated. The side-effects and by-products of narcissism, such as depressive episodes or obsessive-compulsive behaviors can. Psychodynamic therapies have very limited success in treating NPD and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) doesn't fare much better. Medication can be used to treat the side-effects I mentioned. The narcissist is the prime and first victim of his own mental constitution. His disorder prevents him from materializing his potential, from having mature, adult relationships and from enjoying life. The narcissist is universally hated or despised, prosecuted and cast out. He pays dearly for what, in essence, is beyond his full control.

David: From an outsider's point of view, the negatives of being a narcissist, the inability to have mature relationships and enjoy life, may sound bad. But does the narcissist him/herself feel bad about that?
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Fits *Bush to a tee in my unprofessional opinion.

[Warpy]

7. he may have components of antisocial personality or

narcissistic personality disorder, but the real concern for Bush is fairly obvious Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. There's a good layman's description at: http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/top/000771.cfm

Honestly, if that aint Bush, what is?

[MatrixEscape]

3. I recalled this:

From the Yurica Report:

http://www.yuricareport.com/Bush%27sBody/BushUsesDrugsForDepressionErratic.html

[madison2000]

4. he's really got the "dry drunk" thing going too

What is a "Dry Drunk" and why do some analysts say that George W. Bush has symptoms of being a "Dry Drunk"?

A "Dry Drunk" is a recovering alcoholic no longer drinking, yet whose thinking is clouded.

In American Politics Journal , inspired by Alan Bisbort's article "Dry Drunk " -- Is Bush Making a Cry for Help?, Katherine van Wormer discusses the symptoms. "Such an individual", she writes, "tends to go to extremes."

Behavior patterns tend to include many of the following:

* Childish behavior
* Egocentricity and ethnocentricity.
* Exaggerated self-importance and pomposity
* Extreme language
* Grandiose behavior
* Impatience
* Irrational rationalization
* Irresponsible behavior
* Obsessive repetition. "There are organic reasons for this due to brain chemistry irregularities; messages in one part of the brain become stuck there."
* Overreaction.
* Rigid, judgmental outlook.
* Polarized thinking. Good versus evil. "All-or-nothing thinking ... traps people in a pattern of destructive behavior."
* Projection

Is it possible to be "Drunk on Power"? Senator William Fulbright (in The Arrogance of Power) wrote "The causes and consequences of war may have more to do with pathology than with politics, more to do with irrational pressures of pride and pain than with rational calculation of advantage and profit."

Alan Bisbort list of characteristics of the "dry drunk" include:

* Incoherence while departed from prepared speaking remarks.
* Irritability with anyone who disagrees with him.
* Obsessing about a single thing.

Bush drank heavily, starting in his teens he began years of binge drinking. He was convicted in 1976 in Maine for D.U.I. He has chosen to not speak about his reported drug use during that time.

At age 40, he decided to abstain from alcohol.

Van Wormer suggests that George W. Bush has the traits "of addictive persons who still have the thought patterns that accompany substance abuse" and that residual effects from his substance abuse could cloud his thinking and judgment. She writes: "His behavior is consistent with barely noticeable but meaningful brain damage brought on by years of heavy drinking and possible cocaine use."

[BlueEyedSon]

6. Reassuring to see only 4% voted "No problem: he is mentally healthy"

96% feel that SOMETHING is up!

[madison2000]

8. Thinking Bush is mentally healthy is a sure sign

of DELUSION!