Contributors

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Is It True?

A reader sent me this yesterday and I thought I would throw it out to all of you and see what you think. It was written earlier this year but I still think it is appropriate.

A Psychiatrist's Analysis of George W. Bush
George Bush's "irrational"consideration of a "surge" in the wake of the Iraq Study Group report -- which apparently defies all credible counsel -- has begun to generate speculation regarding his sanity. References to Bush's delusions" have appeared in the mainstream media and throughout the blogosphere. As a psychiatrist, I understandably get concerned when I see clinical terminology bandied about in political discourse, and thought it might be of interest to share a professional perspective on this question. I have a distinct clinical impression that I think explains much of Mr. Bush's visible pathology.

First and foremost, George W. Bush has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. What this means, is that he has rather desperate insecurities about himself and compensates by constructing a grandiose self-image. Most of his relationships are either mirroring relationships -- people who flatter him and reinforce his grandiosity -- or idealized self-objects -- people that he himself thinks a lot of, and hence feels flattered by his association with them. Some likely perform both functions. Hence his weakness for sycophants like Harriet Miers, and powerful personalities like Dick Cheney.

Even as a narcissist, Bush knows he isn't a great intellect, and compensates by dismissing the value of intellect altogether. Hence his disses of Gore's bookishness, and any other intellectual who isn't flattering him. Bush knows that his greatest personal strength is projecting personal affability, and tries to utilize it even in the most inappropriate settings. That's why he gives impromptu back rubs to the German Chancellor in a diplomatic meeting -- he's insecure intellectually, and tries to make everyone into a "buddy" so he can feel more secure. The most disturbing aspect about narcissists, however, is their pathological inability to empathize with others, with the exception of those who either mirror them, or whom they idealize. Hence Bush's horrifying insensitivity to the Katrina victims, his callous jokes when visiting grievously injured soldiers, and numerous other instances. He simply has no capacity to feel for others in that way.

When LBJ was losing Vietnam, he developed a haunted expression that anybody could recognize as indicative of underlying anguish. For all his faults, you just knew he was losing sleep over it. By the same token, we know just as well that Bush isn't losing any sleep over dead American soldiers, to say nothing of dead Iraqis. He didn't exhibit any sign of significant concern until his own political popularity was sliding -- because THAT'S something he CAN feel. Which brings us to his recent "delusion." To be blunt, I don't see any indication that Bush has any sort of psychotic disorder whatsoever. The lapses in reality-testing that he exhibits are the sort that can be readily explained by his characterological insensitivity to the feelings and perceptions of others, due to his persistently self-centered frame of reference.

Mr. Bush knows that things aren't going his way in Iraq, and he knows that this is damaging him politically. He also sees that it is likely to get worse no matter what he does, and in fact it may be a lost cause. However, he recognizes that if he follows the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, Iraq will almost certainly evolve into a puppet state of Iran, and given his treatment of Iran he will completely lose control of the situation -- and he will be politically discredited for this outcome. The ONLY chance that he has to avoid this political disaster, and save his political skin, is to hope against hope for "victory" in Iraq. Advancing the "surge" idea offers Bush two political advantages over following the ISG recommendations. One is that if it is implemented, maybe, just maybe, he can pull out some sort of nominal "victory" out of the situation. The chances are exceedingly slim, granted, but slim is better to him than the alternative -- none. Alternately, if the "surge" is politically rejected, he gains some political cover, so when things inevitably go bad, he can say "I told you so" and blame the "surrender monkeys" for the outcome. Most people probably won't buy it, but some (his core base) will. Now, I know what many of you are thinking -- is George Bush willing to risk the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands more American soldiers, on an outside chance to save his political skin, in a half-baked plan that even he knows probably won't work at all? Yes, he is. Because George Bush is that narcissistic, that desperate, and yes, that sociopathic as well.

Especially interesting about Mr. Bush, but quite common, Narcissistic Personality Disorder is frequently associated with alcoholism. The insufferable "holier than thou" attitude associated with "Dry Drunk" Syndrome" is indicative of underlying narcissism. Also, the way that Bush embraces Christianity is characteristically narcissistic. Rather than incorporating the lessons of humility and empathy modeled by Jesus, Bush uses his Christian faith to reinforce his grandiosity. Jesus is his powerful ally, his idealized "buddy" who gives a rubber stamp to anything he thinks . Finally -- and this will sound VERY familiar to many readers -- those persons with NPD are notoriously unable to say they're sorry. Admitting error is fundamentally incompatible with their precarious efforts to maintain their sense of order. Anyone having this particular character flaw almost certainly has NPD.

(Dr. Paul Minot, psychiatrist, Waterville, Maine)

I think that this analysis could easily extended to cover several conservatives I know as well.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Name the conservatives you know then.

Mark Ward said...

Thankfully no one here, although gang bang has his moments :)

I don't want to name exact names but my uncle, a guy I know at the gym, a friend of my wife's and her father, another friend's mom, and pretty about 80 percent of the people that post on the conseravtive blogs I frequent.

Anonymous said...

haha :)

Well the Gang Bang that I know doesn’t go to church, very rarely drinks alcohol, has a humble self image, certainly knows that one cannot "have it all" (hence there is no Rubber Stamp), and knows that there are tradeoffs in life. He knows that being educated is not the same as being wise and he knows that knowing a lot of facts and sounding sophisticated is not the same as having a genuine understanding of an issue. He is friends with all kinds of people of all economic levels. He only dismisses intellect when he can tell someone is full of shit on a certain issue and he also knows that many times the real world is not played out in the comfortable confines of a classroom where armchair quarterbacking is the norm and hindsight is considered wisdom.

I recall the recent efforts on here to get Gang Bang to admit he was wrong about Universal Health Care. For the record, socialist medicine may be fine and dandy if you have the flu or if you have a bee sting that swells up your hand. But if you have the 'big one' like cancer you're in big trouble because specialized areas of medicine have massive waiting lists in those countries.

In Britain they have a lower cancer survival rates than we do in the US, made worse by the fact that nearly a third who die from cancer are still on the waiting list to see an Oncologist. You simply can't compare healthcare systems based on anecdotal experiences of American travelers in Europe (like the guy in Sicko who busted his shoulder on Abbey Road). The measure of a healthcare system is not life expectancy which has many factors other than medical treatment, and it may not even be waiting lists as I mentioned before. It is what chance you have for survival when you get sick. In Britain, men who get prostate cancer have a 1 in 2 chance of dying of the disease. In the U. S., prostate cancer patients have a 1 in 5 chance of dying of prostate cancer. That could also be a measuring stick for how you judge a healthcare system my friends. A recent study by the American Cancer Society studied all types of cancer and where a person was most likely to survive. They studied the U. S., France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and other European countries. Whether it was breast cancer, prostate cancer, luekemia, melanoma or other deadly forms of cancer, the country in which people survived cancer and lived longest with the disease was the United States.

At this point in time one of the fastest growing areas of business in England is private dental practice. People are sick of the waiting lists to get care. When France had a heatwave in 2004, thousands of the elderly died from simply not having air-conditioning, not to mention the heatwave occurred in August and many families simply abandoned their elderly relatives to go on their annual holiday. They just left old Ma and Pa home to roast. Europe is beautiful and fun to visit. But more affluent? No.

I know Gang Bang has been to Europe as I have and next time you all go be sure to notice one aspect to European health care that no one has mentioned yet on this blog. This one occurred to me on my trip over there last year. The company I work for has a large mobility solutions branch and I noticed that anyone needing a wheelchair to get around simply wouldn't be able to get around in Europe. I saw two families struggling to push their children in wheelchairs, one child had a broken leg with a full cast, the other child appeared to have cerebral palsy. Those families were having extreme difficulty pushing the chairs over the cobbles. Europe is not user-friendly to those needing a wheelchair. Stairs everywhere even to access the WC (bathroom for you yanks), elevators in the hotels that were too small for a wheelchair, no ramps, no curb cuts, etc. Health care is not only the immediate treatment folks. Any elderly or disabled person in Europe requiring a wheelchair is simple not able to get around. That could account for the few wheelchairs seen. Those people must be homebound.

Steven M Nielson said...

Don't be so simple. This is not just conservatives, but most main-stream politicians.

Consider the fact that Congress is at 9% approval rating... because they are all self-guided nut-o's who discount the importance of outside opinion from their constituents.