The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

 

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

Bandy X. Lee

Macmillan, November 2017, RRP $49.99, Hardback

 

27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess a president.

Since the start of Trump's presidential run, one question has permeated the observations of concerned citizens: What is wrong with him? Constrained by the APA's "Goldwater rule," which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to answer this question have shied away from discussing the issue at all.

In The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, mental health experts argue that, in Trump's case, their moral and civic "duty to warn" America supersedes professional neutrality. Philip Zimbardo and Rosemary Sword, for instance, explain Trump's impulsivity in terms of "unbridled and extreme present hedonism." Craig Malkin writes on pathological narcissism. Gail Sheehy, on a lack of trust that exceeds paranoia. Lance Dodes, on sociopathy. Robert Jay Lifton, on the "malignant normality" that can set in everyday life if psychiatrists do not speak up.

His madness is catching, too. From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond. It's not all in our heads. It's in his. 

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div., is Assistant Clinical Professor in Law and Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. She earned her degrees at Yale, interned at Bellevue, was Chief Resident at Mass General, and was a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School. She was also a Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health. She's written more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, edited nine academic books, and is author of the textbook Violence.