Every time President Donald Trump lashes out like child at his critics, the media, mocks women and handicapped journalists, many of us are left wondering: How is a man at the highest seat of power acting so irresponsibly?
Traditionally, psychologists were not allowed to talk to journalists about their findings on public figures. But since Trump is clearly overstepping his boundaries as a sexist, racist world leader, many mental health experts are breaking the rule and speaking out against Trump.
Most psychologists are diagnosing Trump as a ‘temperamental’ man.
The Independent reported psychologist Dr John D Gartner, cautioning, “Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president.”
Gartner said Trump had exhibited signs of “malignant narcissism”, which is the commonest of all of diagnoses on Trump’s character.
“Narcissism impairs his ability to see reality so you can't use logic to persuade someone like that. Three million women marching? Doesn't move him. Advisers point out that a policy choice didn't work? He won't care,” clinical psychologist Dr Julie Futrell told NY Daily News.
Professors from Harvard Medical School and the University of California evaluated Trump to be suffering from mental instability, which included “grandiosity, impulsivity, hypersensitivity to slights or criticism, and an apparent inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality” all of which make him incapable of being a leader. Moreover, he lacks empathy.
The American Psychiatry Association associated Trump with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and said that Trump believes he is “special” or “unique” and can be only understood by other special people. That explains why everything against him is termed as “fake news” and why he needs to be surrounded only by those who admire and parrot him like his national spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sean Spicer.
Since his election, thousands of psychologists have formed a group called Citizen Therapists Against Trumpism to caution people from following Trump’s understanding of success and failure.
As more and more psychologists continue to confirm what the masses feared, the situation can only get worse before it gets better.
(With inputs from NY Daily News and The Independent)
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