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July 15, 2005
Go ahead and worry . . .
"If one of my patients frequently said one thing and did another, I would want to know why. If I found that he often used words that hid their true meaning and affected a persona that obscured the nature of his actions, I would grow more concerned. If he presented an inflexible worldview characterized by an oversimplified distinction between good and evil, allies and enemies, I would question his grasp of reality. And if his actions revealed an unacknowledged - even sadistic - indifference to human suffering, wrapped in pious claims of compassion, I would worry about the safety of the people whose lives he touched.For the past three years, I have observed with increasing alarm the inconsistencies and denials of such an individual. But he is not one of my patients. He is our president."
Justin A. Frank, M.D. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center, Teaching Analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, former president of the Greater Washington Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and author of Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.
Dr. Frank makes a convincing case that first, the discipline of "applied psychoanalysis" (meaning the application of psychoanalytic principals to anyone outside of the psychoanalyst's own "couch") is a traditional arm of psychoanalysis, dating back to Freud himself. For example, within the halls of the George H.W. Bush Center for Central Intelligence in Langley, Virginia, psychoanalysts are currently reviewing and evaluating histories and audio and videotapes of world leaders (or anyone of interest to the CIA) in an effort to gain an understanding of that individual's psychology from afar. These evaluations are legitimate and quite accurate.
Second, Dr. Frank persuasively argues that George W. Bush is a real mess. An individual so psychologically damaged - so unstable - that he is a danger to this country. He analyzes what is known of Bush's childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, twenty years of alcoholism, and subsequent "born-again" religious fundamentalism. The public record created by Bush's fishbowl existence since assuming the presidency lends easily to analysis of his current state.
The verdict? Bush was a child who's early development was severely arrested due to parental neglect and the trauma of losing a sibling. He was a child with untreated attention deficit disorder who never learned to concentrate. Hence, he has a propensity for impulsive, unthought-out decisions. Not surprisingly, as an adult Bush developed an alcoholic personality. But when he quit drinking (and by the way, even when alcholics enter treatment only 1 in 10 is ever successfully abstains) Bush never treated the underlying issues that led to his alcohol abuse.
Hence, Bush likely has the damaged brain function common in 20-year alcoholics. As well as the rigid, narrow, world-view of someone fearful of changing his routine lest he start drinking again. Bush's smirk belies an underlying pleasure at inflicting pain (or death) upon others. He is a man profoundly fearful at his core, who has projected his fearfulness onto the U.S. populace.
If one-tenth of Dr. Frank's evaluations hold water, Bush's character is a threat to the United States. The vast staff at KIW collectively estimate that close to 75% of Dr. Frank's observations are relevant and accurate. The dramatic events (i.e. economic reversal, terrorist attack, alienation from the world community, war, social division) that the U.S. has experienced since Bush took the office of the presidency in 2000, belie the reasonableness of this concern.
Be concerned.
Posted by williamfrick at July 15, 2005 9:38 PM
Comments
Before this would be a valid basis for concern, it would first have to be established that being psychologically damaged is in fact abnormal. In other words, he would have to analyse other American Presidents and leading figures to demonstrate that they are somehow "healthy" to establish that Bush is in some ways a deviation. My own guess is that "normality" is an illusion that almost no one fully meets.
Posted by: Michael E Piston at July 16, 2005 12:15 AM
Michael,
While you are correct that "normality" is not a requirement for competency, the point of Dr. Frank's book is not that George W. Bush isn't "normal". The point of his book is that the President is damaged to the point of being unable to perform the duties of the presidency in a competent manner.
The facts of the history of George W. Bush's presidency support Dr. Frank's hypothesis. For instance Bush's inability to concentrate or absorb complicated fact scenarios led him, as President, to dismiss numerous pre-9-11 warnings about actions being planned by Islamic fundamentalist radicals. Likewise, the complications of economic theory are only reacted to by cutting taxes for the wealthy. Similarly, the idea that the struggle against "terrorism" might be best advanced by means other than bombing Arab populations, seemed beyond Bush's grasp in 2002-2003.
The black/white scenarios that the President reduces the world to, are dangerously inaccurate views of the world. And unfortunately, someone who has endured untreated attention deficit disorder for 55 years is completely incapable of digesting complexity.
It's certainly not "normalcy" that we want in a President. We do need rationality, and a clear-headed thought process, however.
Pick up Dr. Frank's book. It's has actually led me to a much more sympathetic view of Bush that I could have imagined having, prior to reading it.
Posted by: williamfrick at July 16, 2005 9:18 AM