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Jade Fox

(10,030 posts)
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:18 AM Sep 2016

Why won't the media take Trump's mental disorder seriously?

This is from January, but nothing has changes:

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/a-neuroscientist-explains-trump-has-a-mental-disorder-that-makes-him-a-dangerous-world-leader/

"According to a number of top U.S. psychologists, like Harvard professor and researcher Howard Gardner, Donald Trump is a “textbook” narcissist. In fact, he fits the profile so well that clinical psychologist George Simon told Vanity Fair, “He’s so classic that I’m archiving video clips of him to use in workshops.” This puts Trump in the same category as a number of infamous dictators like Muammar Gaddafi, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Saddam Hussein. And although there are narcissists out there who entertain us, innovate, or create great art, when a narcissist is given immense power over people’s lives, they can behave much differently. As the 2016 presidential election grows nearer we must ask ourselves, if elected president would Donald Trump act on the behalf of the will of the people, or would he behave more like a dictator—silencing any dissenting voices, perpetually refusing to compromise, and being oppressive to certain groups? To answer that, we should ask a little bit more about what makes a narcissist tick, and how they tend to behave when given free rein.

What is it exactly that makes someone a certifiable narcissist and not simply a person who has a healthy amount of confidence and a burning desire to achieve great goals? According to the Mayo Clinic, narcissistic personality disorder is “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.”

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Mika

(17,751 posts)
15. Nope. The current situation is a tacit admission that they have done their job.
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 11:35 AM
Sep 2016

I guess it depends what one perceives is their job, working for transnational über corporations.


BSdetect

(8,989 posts)
2. Dangerous indeed
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:24 AM
Sep 2016

I found myself wondering how close we are to a "could we have stopped Hitler situation"?

Should he be stopped now by the saner GOP people. There are a few of them. Have him restrained legally.

Take him off the table as a candidate. He is demonstrably unfit to be CIC.

We all know that.

Of course they believe they need to keep control of their do nothing congress, the SCOTUS and deregulating Wall St again.

Hitler would have loved an A bomb at his fingertips.



milestogo

(16,829 posts)
3. Its not the media's job to make a psychiatric diagnosis.
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:41 AM
Sep 2016

Only a psychiatrist who has examined Trump in their office should be making a diagnosis, and when they do they can't make it public.

In any event, Narcissists rarely seek therapy and when they do they are very difficult to help because they feel superior to the therapist.

Its up to the American people to realize that this is a dangerous man.

Truthfully, many people elected to public office, and many successful people are narcissists. Some are more dangerous than others.

Jade Fox

(10,030 posts)
7. The media could quote articles like the one in my original post.......
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:49 AM
Sep 2016

where mental health Professionals give their opinion. They are certainly willing to give plenty of air time to other "some people are saying' type stories.

There are many other articles out there weighing in on the mental illness they see in Trump.

http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/16/donald-trumps-fake-2016-campaign-is-a-cry-for-help/

Jade Fox

(10,030 posts)
11. I'm talking about the broadcast media......
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:57 AM
Sep 2016

Hard core Trump voters won't change, but someone else might.

loyalsister

(13,390 posts)
5. certifiable does not mean certified
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:44 AM
Sep 2016

It would be flat out slander coming from people who have never examined him. He could easily respond with a counter argument from a psychiatrist with credibility based on having evidence. It would be irresponsible for the press to push a story based on an armchair opinion without evidence as if it were fact.

Aside from that, trying to stigmatize him by lumping him in with "those people" is hateful and says a lot about how little people pushing this narrative value individuals who have mental illnesses. I would hope ableism would stay in the domain of republicans. This narrative is bigoted and unnecessary. There are plenty of arguments against him being president that don't require slamming people who have legitimate diagnoses.

Act_of_Reparation

(9,116 posts)
6. Because it's not fucking serious.
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:48 AM
Sep 2016

There's a difference between being a colloquial "narcissist" and suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. Harvard professor and researcher Howard Gardner -- who, by the way, specializes in intelligence, not clinical psychology -- said Trump was a narcissist. That's true. He didn't say Trump was mentally fucking ill, because Harvard professor and researcher Howard Gardner is not fucking qualified to make that determination, and even if he was it would be unethical to insinuate an illness without ever examining Trump as patient.

Trump's an asshole. We all know he's an asshole. And, as crazy as it sounds, neurotypical people can be assholes, too.

saltpoint

(50,986 posts)
8. Trump gives us more reasons than we
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 10:52 AM
Sep 2016

can count not to like him or trust him.

But while we may observe from afar that he seems to meet criteria for narcissism, a clinician has to do the interviewing and determine a diagnosis.

I will say he behaves like a brainless jackass. Not the most clinical assessment, but I'm real comfortable with it.

world wide wally

(21,718 posts)
12. It goes a lot deeper than just narcissism.
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 11:00 AM
Sep 2016

There is the compulsive lying, the rage, the insecurity, and I am sure plenty other abnormal personality characteristics.

UTUSN

(70,494 posts)
13. R#4 & K for, excellent o.p. point. Several different facets of their irresponsibility &
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 11:07 AM
Sep 2016

I've often asked why many of us who just trust what we see and hear in front of us, who have NO special resources, can recognize the Good, Bad, & Ugly in real time, while all these supposedly sophisticated wizards on the public stage - whether media pundits or government bench warmers - with all the resources and advantages at their fingertips (but not their frontal lobes) just fall for all the claimed uncertainties and make excuses.

But there are all sorts of "reasons" they give for their collaboration with the Bads and the Uglies:

* They're lazy and sloppy.

* They cover their asses.

* They are corporate whores, careerism.

* They are cowards.

* They claim it's not their job to reach conclusions.

And it is NOTHING NEW. To go back just as far as Shrub, they did the same thing with him, kept demanding that GORE not be too hard or MEAN to Shrub, Shrub was CUTE and FUN and ENTERTAINING.

Buns_of_Fire

(17,119 posts)
14. In my eminently unqualified opinion, I think it's a definite possibility
Wed Sep 28, 2016, 11:32 AM
Sep 2016

that there's no dysfunction, disorder, malady, psychosis, or syndrome involved and that he's simply a garden-variety, pathetic, miserable, disagreeable, rotten bastard.

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