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Zorro

(15,691 posts)
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 09:28 PM Oct 2020

Mary Trump: Psychiatrists know what's wrong with my uncle. Let them tell voters.

Muzzling its members is a dereliction of duty by the American Psychiatric Association

In 1964, Fact magazine published an unscientific survey asking psychiatrists whether they thought the Republican nominee, Barry Goldwater, was psychologically fit to serve as president of the United States. The problem wasn’t that professionals felt the need to share their views of what they considered Goldwater’s dangerous ideas; it was the irresponsible and often bizarre analyses that were in some cases based entirely on rank speculation. “Goldwater is basically a paranoid schizophrenic” who “resembles Mao Tse-tung,” one offered. Another said that he “has the same pathological make-up as Hitler, Castro, Stalin and other known schizophrenic leaders.” A third said that “a megalomaniacal, grandiose omnipotence appears to pervade Mr. Goldwater’s personality.”

Embarrassed, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), in reaction to this debacle, established the “Goldwater Rule,” which barred its members from diagnosing public figures. It concluded that “it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement.” That’s fair, as far as it goes. But in March 2017, shortly after my uncle, Donald Trump, was inaugurated, the APA didn’t just reaffirm the rule — it expanded it past the point of coherence. Not only were members prohibited from diagnosing public figures, now they could no longer offer a professional opinion of any sort, no matter how well supported or evidence-based, even if they believed that a public figure posed a threat to the country’s citizens or national security.

This is absurd on its face and has potentially serious consequences for the safety of the American people. While psychiatric diagnosis is a technical process, it is entirely within bounds to draw conclusions based on observable behavior. It is one thing to declare definitively that a person has anti-social personality disorder (a specific diagnostic term); it is another to point to behaviors — such as deliberately putting other people in harm’s way for no discernible reason (for example, abandoning our Kurdish allies) beyond one’s own self-interest — and express the general conclusion that it is dangerous to have somebody in the Oval Office who is incapable of empathy. The APA has also stated that “psychiatrists are medical doctors; evaluating mental illness is no less thorough than diagnosing diabetes or heart disease.” That’s true — but what might a cardiologist say if a public figure kept having heart attacks? Would he need to be subjected to a “thorough” diagnostic regimen for a doctor to speculate that there might be an underlying heart condition? If the person who kept having heart attacks was a pilot who refused to seek medical attention, wouldn’t it be malpractice not to speak out? It is not an exaggeration to say that Donald has exhibited pathological behavior that is equally alarming — as evidenced most recently by his callous disregard for his own health and the well-being of those around him when he left Walter Reed hospital while still shedding coronavirus, or when he holds rallies and encourages thousands of people to attend without wearing masks or social distancing in order to prop up his ego.

The American public is inadequately educated about mental health. It would take a serious, sustained explication, backed by the power and reach of a professional association, to help us understand why the emotional and psychological stability of our leaders matters and can have an impact on all of us. Every day legal experts weigh in on Donald’s unconstitutional or norm-breaking behaviors. Since his covid-19 diagnosis, medical experts have speculated about the course of his illness and the potentially dangerous side effects he may be experiencing as a result of the experimental treatments he’s received. Only the mental health experts have been effectively sidelined.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/psychiatrists-mary-trump-goldwater/2020/10/22/ebf5e2b6-13c0-11eb-ba42-ec6a580836ed_story.html

Even at my young age in 1964 I knew that Goldwater (another "self-made" Republican from inherited wealth) was scary crazy. And one of Reagan's first despicable acts was to rescind federal funding for mental health, which helped incubate this current rash of right-wing conservative Republican batshittery.
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Mary Trump: Psychiatrists know what's wrong with my uncle. Let them tell voters. (Original Post) Zorro Oct 2020 OP
The PATHETIC commentary on America is that any psychiatrist would have to explain Eliot Rosewater Oct 2020 #1
This!👆 SheltieLover Oct 2020 #2
The idiots can't learn. They insist on... Lock him up. Oct 2020 #7
Save Arizona from another saidsimplesimon Oct 2020 #3
I did! ChazInAz Oct 2020 #9
K&R all the way! JudyM Oct 2020 #4
The trouble is many Americans' choose to be ignorant. They'd relish denigrating psychologists captain queeg Oct 2020 #5
I don't buy this... Ztolkins Oct 2020 #6
I was young and dumb then but I say that Trump beats Goldwater any day or time when it comes to... JoeOtterbein Oct 2020 #8
There is a big difference between physical and mental diseases. marie999 Oct 2020 #10

Eliot Rosewater

(31,096 posts)
1. The PATHETIC commentary on America is that any psychiatrist would have to explain
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 09:29 PM
Oct 2020

this to anyone, after all we have seen.

But they should be able to all SCREAM about it so the IDIOTS can learn!

Lock him up.

(6,873 posts)
7. The idiots can't learn. They insist on...
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 12:32 AM
Oct 2020
imposing their idiocies on everyone around them, mostly after having been brainwashed by the blood-on-their-hand$ pRopagandists on Fux Noi$e and hate radio.

JudyM

(29,122 posts)
4. K&R all the way!
Sat Oct 24, 2020, 10:41 PM
Oct 2020

Let’s see if this might accomplish her presumed goal of opening the door on discussion of his antisocial personality disorder. Well played, Mary.

Ztolkins

(429 posts)
6. I don't buy this...
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 12:31 AM
Oct 2020

Were they right about Goldwater or not? What's the difference between what psychiatrist did then and what Trump is describing they should be able to do now? She sounds like she's making a distinction but I don't see it.
Sorry, I'm dumb.

JoeOtterbein

(7,697 posts)
8. I was young and dumb then but I say that Trump beats Goldwater any day or time when it comes to...
Sun Oct 25, 2020, 12:38 AM
Oct 2020

...crazy!

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