http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/mining-the-headlines/200809/sarah-psychopathSarah Palin is a classic “psychopath” as defined by Lowen psychodynamics, a system that analyzes the inner forces that affect behavior. This is NOT the same as the psychiatric definition of psychopath as a person suffering from “a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior.” In the mid-1930s, Alexander Lowen, MD, (who studied Freud with Wilhelm Reich) designed a system of psychodynamics that defined five consistent behavior patterns. Psychodynamics, for those not familiar with this branch of psychology, deals with the interrelation of the unconscious and conscious mental and emotional forces that determine personality and motivation.
Lowen characterized psychopaths as seeing life in black and white, with their internal motto being “kill or be killed.” They see the world as attacking them, so they meet life in an aggressive manner, always fighting for what they believe is “right.” In psychopaths, the energy field is strongly focused in the throat, so they make great actors, singers, lawyers, and performers. They are apt to be charismatic communicators who seek and enjoy positions of power. They are usually attractive, commanding, and confident.
Apply this description to the little we know about Sarah Palin. In her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, she was full of spunk and vigor, sure of herself, smiling through her attacks on her opponents. She’s a warrior—afraid of nothing. After all, this is a woman who doesn’t hesitate to tackle a demanding job while raising five kids, including a newborn. A woman who has killed the meat she eats. A woman unafraid of firing anyone who crosses her in some way.
However, with this type of personality, all that outward bravado is frequently masking a deep sense of distrust and insecurity. Psychopaths go to great lengths to hide their feelings of weakness and fear. The last thing they want is to appear vulnerable on the battleground—and life is always a battleground to them. Question their authority or “truth” in any way and beware: they attack wildly; the barracuda comes out!
The psychopath is willing to sacrifice greatly on the personal level. With an uncommonly strong will power, they can work long hours, go back to work mere days after giving birth, juggle many balls in the air at once. They know they are “good” while others are “bad,” “right” while others are “wrong.” Since they are very willing to fight for what is “right,” they are always the aggressor and blame everything on the “other.” Secretly, they are afraid that if they lose, it means they are “bad.” They are usually healthy and work cheerfully and hard . . . until they collapse.
We can speculate that Sarah, like other psychopaths, likely mastered this defense in childhood in response to situations that caused a lot of fear. Even in childhood, winning at all costs would have been very important to her, as it would have been her way of making daddy proud. A psychopath is always trying to please the parent of the opposite sex. Here’s the girl who went moose hunting at dawn with her dad before school, the high schooler who, even with an ankle stress fracture, made the critical free throw in the last seconds of the basketball game, the girl who went on to please the judges and win beauty pageants. And who later won elections.
Betrayal on any level is what a psychopath fears most. They are unable to experience or trust the goodness of others. They are afraid that even their closest friends will betray them, and they tend to pick spouses that let them run the show. The psychopath doesn’t really trust anyone, and desperately has to be in control. It is fear of losing control that wants to ban books. It is fear that needs to stand behind a gun. It is fear that make pro-choice so threatening.
When life is a battleground, the enemy is always out there to “kill or be killed.” Psychopaths can be great warriors in the causes they believe in, but presidents or vice presidents can’t be effective leaders if everyone is ultimately the enemy. Running a country requires a different set of skills: teamwork and cooperation, where many are decent and a lot of people are right, not just the leader. Sarah Palin seems to be an unlikely choice to have a heartbeat away from the oval office.
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