Is Trump a victim of Personality Disorder?

[Bijou Drains]

Brian wrote:

Wez wrote:

It's possible that a psychological analysis of the millions who would vote for such a dysfunctional individual would be more productive than a psychiatric assesment of that individual. Such attempts were made by the Frankfurt school, among others, with varying levels of success. The need for and belief in authoritarian social structures together with the leaders that such an arrangement produces does indicate a level of political naivety that implies some kind of emotional infantile state. Nazism and Bolshevism cannot be explained away by a psychological investigation of Hitler and Lenin.

This is presuming that the DSM 5 is unbiased and does not come under the influence of Big Pharma.  But think of the irony here:  Trump nailed to his own petard for supporting the accumulation of capital.That's a thought.  I'll have to edit my Quora answer so it includes the irony.

The influence of big Pharma is definitely there with regards to the DSM, however the influence of insurance companies on the development of the DSM is more notable. Because of the insurance based nature of the American health system, you need to have a diagnosed disorder before the Insurance Company pays for the treatment, whereas in the UK you might be feeling depressed following the death of a loved one, in the US you have to have something like "Relationship Based Bereavement Disorder" before the insurance company will pay for you to see a Counsellor. Hence the ongoing development of the DSM. You might find some of Claude Steiner's work very interesting. (He has a very good website)

[Wez]

I doubt if the likes of Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse or Erich Fromme would have anything other than contempt for the DSM. The medicalisation of the psychological conditions caused by life within capitalism is almost entirely driven by the profits of big pharma and so anathema to true research into why people behave as they do.

[Bijou Drains]

Wez wrote:

I doubt if the likes of Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse or Erich Fromme would have anything other than contempt for the DSM. The medicalisation of the psychological conditions caused by life within capitalism is almost entirely driven by the profits of big pharma and so anathema to true research into why people behave as they do.

Whilst I have no doubt that many"psychological Illnesses" have their roots in the hideous social relations that are thrust on us by capitalism, I think to catagorise all psychological problems as being caused by life under capitalism is naive and actually does the case for Socialism no great service. In a Socialist society trauma will continue, parents will continue to be bereaved as their children die earlier than expected due to illness, accident, etc. relationships will break down causing distress, families will be dysfunctional and loveless, and most crucially attachment difficulties will persist for various reasons.To quote the late great Wally Preston "make no bones about it" Psychological difficulties will continue to exist in a Socialist society. I also think that to say that the medicalisation of psychological conditions is entirely driven by big Pharma, does a disservice to those workers, who have devoted their lives to research into the physiological issues involved in some mental health conditions. I don't doubt for one moment that the profit motive has been behind the work undertaken, in the same way that the profit motive has been behind the development of the jet plane, the internet or malt whisky (which have all proved their social usefulness, especially the whisky) however the outcomes of the intense work carried out by wage slaves, for which they usually have received no credit or share of the profit, has been useful in the symptomatic relief of many sufferers of mental health difficulties. For instance the modern treatment of schizophrenia (crude though it is) is to my mind much preferable to incarceration in Bedlam or enduring the fear and paranoia of the untreated condition.

[Wez]

Tim Kilgallon wrote:

Wez wrote:

I doubt if the likes of Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse or Erich Fromme would have anything other than contempt for the DSM. The medicalisation of the psychological conditions caused by life within capitalism is almost entirely driven by the profits of big pharma and so anathema to true research into why people behave as they do.

Whilst I have no doubt that many"psychological Illnesses" have their roots in the hideous social relations that are thrust on us by capitalism, I think to catagorise all psychological problems as being caused by life under capitalism is naive and actually does the case for Socialism no great service. In a Socialist society trauma will continue, parents will continue to be bereaved as their children die earlier than expected due to illness, accident, etc. relationships will break down causing distress, families will be dysfunctional and loveless, and most crucially attachment difficulties will persist for various reasons.To quote the late great Wally Preston "make no bones about it" Psychological difficulties will continue to exist in a Socialist society. I also think that to say that the medicalisation of psychological conditions is entirely driven by big Pharma, does a disservice to those workers, who have devoted their lives to research into the physiological issues involved in some mental health conditions. I don't doubt for one moment that the profit motive has been behind the work undertaken, in the same way that the profit motive has been behind the development of the jet plane, the internet or malt whisky (which have all proved their social usefulness, especially the whisky) however the outcomes of the intense work carried out by wage slaves, for which they usually have received no credit or share of the profit, has been useful in the symptomatic relief of many sufferers of mental health difficulties. For instance the modern treatment of schizophrenia (crude though it is) is to my mind much preferable to incarceration in Bedlam or enduring the fear and paranoia of the untreated condition.

My objection is to the 'medicalisation' of psychological conditions. It's possible that the majority of these problems are best understood within a sociological/political context rather than a medical one. Various types of non conformity to capitalist cultural norms are considered as 'illnesses'. Without a level of political consciousness no amount of 'devotion and research' can achieve much.

[Anonymous]

Wez wrote:

Tim Kilgallon wrote:

Wez wrote:

I doubt if the likes of Theodore Adorno, Herbert Marcuse or Erich Fromme would have anything other than contempt for the DSM. The medicalisation of the psychological conditions caused by life within capitalism is almost entirely driven by the profits of big pharma and so anathema to true research into why people behave as they do.

Whilst I have no doubt that many"psychological Illnesses" have their roots in the hideous social relations that are thrust on us by capitalism, I think to catagorise all psychological problems as being caused by life under capitalism is naive and actually does the case for Socialism no great service. In a Socialist society trauma will continue, parents will continue to be bereaved as their children die earlier than expected due to illness, accident, etc. relationships will break down causing distress, families will be dysfunctional and loveless, and most crucially attachment difficulties will persist for various reasons.To quote the late great Wally Preston "make no bones about it" Psychological difficulties will continue to exist in a Socialist society. I also think that to say that the medicalisation of psychological conditions is entirely driven by big Pharma, does a disservice to those workers, who have devoted their lives to research into the physiological issues involved in some mental health conditions. I don't doubt for one moment that the profit motive has been behind the work undertaken, in the same way that the profit motive has been behind the development of the jet plane, the internet or malt whisky (which have all proved their social usefulness, especially the whisky) however the outcomes of the intense work carried out by wage slaves, for which they usually have received no credit or share of the profit, has been useful in the symptomatic relief of many sufferers of mental health difficulties. For instance the modern treatment of schizophrenia (crude though it is) is to my mind much preferable to incarceration in Bedlam or enduring the fear and paranoia of the untreated condition.

My objection is to the 'medicalisation' of psychological conditions. It's possible that the majority of these problems are best understood within a sociological/political context rather than a medical one. Various types of non conformity to capitalist cultural norms are considered as 'illnesses'. Without a level of political consciousness no amount of 'devotion and research' can achieve much.

 There is an epidemic of suicide within the young peoples and children, phenomenon that did not exist in others prior societies before  capitalism, and also many farmers in India are taking their own life. Most anxiety within the human beings is produced by this society.We do know that there are many peoples taking medications in order to control their anxiety, or their psychological and psychiatric problem, and the consumption is  bigger than the use of heroin, cocaine and marihuana, but the manufacturers of those drugs are making profits with the diseases of human beings, and there are many soldiers returning from war with psychological problems ( PTS )  produced by the horrors of war.The ironic case of the USA is that most psychiatric hospitals have been closed and there is not state funding for that type of diseases only in extreme cases, and patients are prescribed their medications but they do not have any medical supervision, they are on their own.In the particular case of Donald Trump, it  has nothing to do with psychological disorders, he just anther rich man  like Nelson Rockefeller who wanted to be a president, like the Kennedy and the Bush family., most presidents of the US come from rich families, or have been millitary generalsThe western power used to say that Hitler was a crazy guy, but I do not think that he was crazy either, he knew what he was doing, that was only the propaganda of his opponents. He was not outside of his social and economical reality, and Trump know what he is doing, and what he is looking forWinston Churchill was an alcoholic and he was called the butcher of the middle east before WWII, and Richard Burton said that he wanted to throw up when he made the movie about Churchill, because he was a detestable person, and historian has painted Churchill as a hero, and he was the first  one before the Nazis who approved the use of biological and incendiary bombs against the German population, in reality Trump is acting like any normal US citizen who have been trained to believe that they are the best in the world, and that they can control the whole world, it was also the training received by the rulers of Germany in the minds of the Nazis German, and more than 9 millions of German voted for the Nazis. He  is just  the product of the bourgeois ideology Franz Fanon was a psychiatrist who is considered as a  Marxist, he analyzed the psychological problems of human beings and specially of the black slaves based on their social problems that they encountered, the psychologists where were used as professional witness against the precedent: Separated but Equal the lawyers argued in their behalf that the black slaves were suffer of complex of inferiority due to the problems that the society imposed on them, and the economical conditions imposed by chartered slavery PS Erich Fromm wrote his book: The alienated man based on economical alienation, and he took certain ideas from Hegel, and Marx concept of man he also clarify the conception of Marx based on his materialist conception

[alanjjohnstone]

American Psychiatric Association urged its members to stop calling Trump mentally ill. APA president Maria A Oquendo warned of the dangers of professionals diagnosing without examining someone in person.https://www.rt.com/usa/355006-diagnose-trump-mental-ill/The APA’s ‘Goldwater Rule’ prohibits psychiatrists from giving opinions on public figures’ potential mental illnesses. It was born from Republican Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964. Goldwater’s slogan was “In your heart, you know he’s right” and his critics came up with the alternative, “In your guts, you know he’s nuts,” which led to speculation about the candidate’s mental state. Of the 2,417 psychiatrists surveyed on their opinions of Goldwater’s mental state and 1,189 said he was unfit to be president.

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