🐱 Trump’s Deep ‘Mental Disorder’

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CatParty


or months, the Conway family’s drama had played out in aggressively public fashion. There was George Conway, the attorney and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, launching daily Twitter barbs at President Trump; Kellyanne Conway, the president’s fiercely loyal counselor, defending his increasingly unhinged behavior; and in the middle of it all Claudia Conway, the couple’s teenage daughter, creating TikTok videos about how hellish all the sniping between her parents (and Trump) has been.

Then, on Aug. 23, Kellyanne announced she was leaving the Trump White House to focus on her family, while George said he was taking a step back from The Lincoln Project to do the same. The news came on the heels of Claudia accusing both her parents of abusive behavior via social media.


Prior to all this turmoil—that the more cynical among us could see as a reality-TV post-Trump exit strategy—George Conway shepherded and featured in #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump, a documentary wherein some of the world’s leading mental health professionals and acquaintances of Trump offer their opinions on his mental state.

WATCH IT HERE:
“The important thing to recognize about behavioral disorders is that they can be diagnosed through observation alone,” the film’s director Dan Partland tells The Daily Beast. “There is no need to probe the depths of someone’s soul to determine if they meet the criteria for a behavioral disorder. The DSM is written in plain English and can be easily understood by lay-people.”

In #Unfit, psychiatrists, psychologists and George Conway determine that Trump is suffering from “narcissistic personality disorder.” And in one scene that was left on the cutting-room floor, Conway reads aloud the definition of narcissistic personality disorder from the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, in order to see how many boxes Trump ticks off.

“I have here the DSM-5,” says Conway, before reading the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder. “A pervasive pattern of grandiosity and fantasy or behavior, need for admiration, and lack of empathy as indicated by five or more of the following.”


“Is interpersonally exploitative. Ask the contractors in Atlantic City. Ask the women he sexually abused or assaulted,” offers Conway.

He flips to another indicator: Often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her. “I mean, he’s completely obsessed with [John] McCain, to this day,” says Conway. “He keeps attacking McCain because he’s jealous that McCain is so lionized.”

#Unfit doesn’t just examine Trump’s psyche but also the psychology of those that voted for him, and the societal factors that allow people to blindly follow someone with narcissistic personality disorder.

“Trump’s behavior has been on display for the entire world for almost five years now,” says Partland. “Read the diagnostic criteria and judge for yourself which you think apply. When met, the criteria tend to be accurate predictors of future behavior. Someone with narcissistic personality disorder is prone to a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy. One can only guess at the number of scandals and crises that could have been averted and lives saved if we had understood in 2015 how truly disordered his behavior was.”
 
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If Trump really got a mental disorder then whoever criticizes him is a fucking ableist >:(
 
NPD is a personality disorder, not a mental disorder. It wouldn't make him unfit as a leader because it doesn't hamper his ability to process information; it's simply an abnormal pattern of behavior (personality). You can argue that this makes him a bad candidate, but it doesn't make him unable to lead.
 
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Some young lad is looking for these Commies, in Minecraft.
 
This is like the 5th time the media have led us by this talking point, its not working and I'm dizzy.
 
Trump is obviously not psychologically normal. That said, diagnosing someone from afar with a particular disorder is difficult; just look at the scads of books and articles "proving" that historical figures like Napoleon or Hitler had this or that disorder.
 
I wonder if any of the psychiatrists taking part are members of the American Psychiatric Association, given:
Principles of Medical Ethics said:
On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement
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APA Commentary on Ethics in Practice said:
For some in our profession, psychiatry can extend beyond the physician-patient relationship into the broader domain of public attention: in administration, politics, the courtroom, the media, and the internet. Psychiatrists need to sustain and nurture the ethical integrity of the profession when in the public eye. A psychiatrist may render a professional opinion about an individual after an appropriate clinical examination and accompanying waiver of confidentiality and should not do so unless the examination and waiver have occurred. When a personal examination has not been performed and when a psychiatrist is asked for a professional opinion about a person in light of public attention, ageneral discussion of relevant psychiatric topics —rather than offering opinions about that specific person —is the best means of facilitating public education.
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Genuinely curious what would happen if someone formally accused them of their blatantly unethical violations
 
Jewthulhu said:
NPD is a personality disorder, not a mental disorder. It wouldn't make him unfit as a leader because it doesn't hamper his ability to process information; it's simply an abnormal pattern of behavior (personality). You can argue that this makes him a bad candidate, but it doesn't make him unable to lead.
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A personality disorder IS a mental disorder. Like OCD is considered an anxiety disorder.

I think it's pretty obvious that he has NPD, but then, he certainly wouldn't be the only person in his position. *shrugs* Hey, Reagan was in the early stages of Alzheimers. (And I think there was a Supreme Court justice who had dementia, who kept coming to work after he retired, and they just gave him busy work)
 
Mrs Paul said:
A personality disorder IS a mental disorder. Like OCD is considered an anxiety disorder.

I think it's pretty obvious that he has NPD, but then, he certainly wouldn't be the only person in his position. *shrugs* Hey, Reagan was in the early stages of Alzheimers. (And I think there was a Supreme Court justice who had dementia, who kept coming to work after he retired, and they just gave him busy work)
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You can argue definitions, but the point is that personality disorders are fundamentally different than debilitating mental disorders like schizophrenia or OCD. People with NPD can distinguish between fantasy and reality, and are in full control of their mental faculties.
 
Jewthulhu said:
You can argue definitions, but the point is that personality disorders are fundamentally different than debilitating mental disorders like schizophrenia or OCD. People with NPD can distinguish between fantasy and reality, and are in full control of their mental faculties.
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I would disagree with this. I've had the displeasure of associating with a person who had a diagnosed NPD, and it was very clear from the outset that this person wasn't able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. In essence, it could be said that this person was so deeply enamored to her own personality and capabilities that no amount of cold facts to the contrary could convince her otherwise. For example, she was adamant that her technical artistic ability was at least on the level of great masters, while in fact her artistic output was actually on the level of barely average five-year old. She also exhibited tremendous attention-seeking behaviour which she clearly couldn't control, to the point of constantly faking epileptic seizures to get the attention of those around her.

NPD diagnosis isn't given lightly(At least where I live. I've known scores of mentally unwell people, but literally only one with NPD diagnosis.) by mental health professionals, so I tend to believe that this person really had NPD.

Psychology as a profession and science is very vulnerable to shifts in political climate, which is evident if you look how the classification of mental illnesses has changed over time purely on the basis of current political trends of the time. Due to this, I seriously doubt any claims that any public person would have this or that disorder, as it's just too easy to claim such things without any backing of evidence. I also seriously doubt that anyone with real personality disorders could hold, even less achieve a position in any official function, due to the simple fact that such disorders really make those suffering from them to act really weirdly in a way that is quite clear to anyone of sound mind.
 
Mrs Paul said:
I think it's pretty obvious that he has NPD, but then, he certainly wouldn't be the only person in his position.
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That's conjecture, and that's the problem with people throwing these terms around.
You can make reasonable assumptions about someone's character, but there's a huge difference between a personality trait and a personality disorder.
 
This absolute peon thinks he can assess the mental life of a person who he'd never be allowed within 100 metres of -- "believes others are envious of him or her", indeed. It's hard enough to diagnose a personality disorder in someone from a different culture, and some people, among whom let me just suggest the most powerful person in the world might be one, are too far removed from one's own experiences to provide much of an assessment by analogy to one's own mediocre life.

I like the Last Psychiatrist's (read his blog!) distinction between narcissism and grandiosity, with the former not necessarily implying the latter, though the term narcissism as used culturally and to a large part by the DSM implies synonymity.

It is also pretty fundamental that a diagnosable mental illness/personality disorder should cause the patient impairment/distress. Not "cause George Conway distress".
 
As has been said a billion million times before, unless you are the man's psychiatrist, you cannot make an affirmative diagnosis of mental illness. This is just pure garbage.
 
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