Yale psychiatrist explains how Trump's psychosis has spread to his rank-and-file supporters

[Mike 03]

Source: Raw Story

Full headline: Yale psychiatrist explains how Trump’s psychosis has spread to his rank-and-file supporters — and much of the GOP

Published 3 hours ago on January 13, 2020 By Dr. Bandy X. Lee

"Power may corrupt ordinary individuals, but it radically transforms dangerously pathological figures beyond what people can imagine."


Excerpt:

Rarely do we have the amount that Donald Trump offers, with decades of candid interviews and clips; numerous collateral reports by close associates, many under sworn testimony; and direct, unfiltered, near-hourly reporting of thoughts (a full diagnosis needs more, although a personal examination is not the deciding issue, as it can in some cases be harmful in assessing personalities that deceive or charm).

With Giuliani, however, I can make an exception.

I can do so because, like many of Trump’s followers, he seems to be an extension of the president’s psychology. How is this possible? There can be a contagion of symptoms, as in the phenomenon of “shared psychosis,” further explained below. I also have some references on Giuliani as a long-term New Yorker that corroborate my assessment. Finally, I feel justified in sharing the findings because of the danger he poses (as a strong adherent to the original “Goldwater rule,” I am opposed to commenting frivolously on public figures unless they pose a danger to public health).

I have regularly been “translating” Trump and his followers as a public service, using my understanding of the president’s defense mechanisms, repeatedly validated against other data: whatever he says about others is very revealing about himself. I apply the same method for his followers because their shared psychosis, or the transmission of mental symptoms among close contacts over time, including via the media or the Internet, renders their psychological structure extremely similar.

Adopting Trump’s Delusions

Unlike Trump, I have closely interacted with many Trump supporters and can personally attest to their uniformity in many psychological respects. Especially when the primary pathology rests in a powerful figure, otherwise healthy people can adopt his cognitive distortions, delusions, and other symptoms as their own. My experience with multiple cases in state hospitals and among gangs in prisons, in my 22-year career as a forensic psychiatrist, has been impressive. Shared psychosis disappears just as dramatically when the contact is interrupted (we may consider Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen here).

Here is a sample “translation” of Giuliani’s words, or interpretation of what his subconscious may be telling us, from his opinion piece: “Republicans’ obsession from day one not to impeach President Donald J. Trump, without regard to substance or process, led us to change the grounds for our argument every couple of months. In doing so we have punted everything from Russian collusion to obstruction of justice, to quid pro quo, to bribery.”

Projecting Trump’s Criminality onto Biden

By offering to try the case several days ago, Giuliani revealed a grandiosity so high, he does not seem to notice how he often harms his client or reveals how corrupt he is willing to be by trying a case for which his client is defendant (and he potentially co-conspirator). When he said he would prosecute “as a racketeering case,” he was inadvertently “confessing” his and the president’s level of criminality by projecting it onto Joe Biden. He even narcissistically added that he “kind of invented” such prosecutions.

More at link: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/yale-psychiatrist-explains-how-trumps-psychosis-has-spread-to-his-rank-and-file-supporters-and-much-of-the-gop/

[mr_lebowski]

1. Sounds right (nt)