Now, science has finally answered that question...
While there is no official clinical diagnosis of psychopathy, the textbook traits of it and related Anti Social Personality disorders like Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Sociopathy, are somewhat easy to spot once you know the signs.
The failure for there to be an official way to diagnose these disorders is due more to the fact that the individuals who have these traits are adept at masking them, or giving the answers to questions that psychologists "want" to hear.
Donald Trump is "remarkably narcissistic," according developmental psychologist Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
"Textbook narcissistic personality disorder," clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis explained.
The Mayo Clinic explains "Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultraconfidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism." They add that "a narcissistic personality disorder causes problems in many areas of life." The sufferer "may be generally unhappy and disappointed when you're not given the special favors or admiration you believe you deserve."
Clinical psychologist George Simon said that Trump is "so classic that I'm archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there's no better example of his characteristics." He conducts lectures and seminars on manipulative behavior exhibited by narcissists, psychopaths and sociopaths - all related Anti Social Personality Disorders. "Otherwise, I would have had to hire actors and write vignettes. He's like a dream come true."
The Raw Story makes the following poignant observations:
Trump's shortage of empathy can be seen clearly by his stances on topics like immigration. Instead of recognizing that the data shows that most Mexican immigrants are not violent, but instead people simply looking for a place where actual opportunity exists, with a broad brush he claims that they are "criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc." In a similar vein, Trump has vowed to ban all Muslims from entering the country should he be elected. It appears that his lack of empathy has distorted his mind's ability to grasp the fact that the refugees he speaks of are actually seeking safety from the same murderous maniacs that he wants to keep out. Perhaps if Trump had relatives in countries like Syria and Iraq, he might understand the constant fear that most live under, and in turn become more willing to welcome them with open arms rather than leaving them to be slaughtered.Narcissism, Psychopath and Sociopathy used to be lumped together synonymously, under the banner of Anti Social Personality Disorder. But today the disorders are divided in subtle, nuanced, but very similar ways. There is a lot of overlap - in fact more overlap than not.
But a lack of empathy is just one part of narcissistic personality disorder. Just beneath the surface layer of overwhelming arrogance lies a delicate self-esteem that is easily injured by any form of criticism. We have all seen Trump unjustifiably lash out at a number of people with harsh and often extremely odd personal attacks. When he thought he had been treated unfairly by Fox News host and Republican debate moderator Megyn Kelly, he responded by calling her a "bimbo" and later saying that she had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." In response to the strange, misogynistic comments Kelly said that she "may have overestimated his anger management skills." If the news host would have pegged him as a bona fide narcissist from the beginning she might have expected such shamelessly flagrant behavior.
Carol Caldwell notes, in D.J. Trump, Psychopath, that "it's been attested to by psychologists and neurobiologists who study psycho- and sociopaths that the deadly syndrome can be seen in their eyes."
She observes that "the eyes are described as affectless, what we would call cold, or eerily blank in one-on-one or televised exchanges. The sociopath is described as charming, out-going, intelligent, cunning, winning without warmth, but adaptable to whatever human kindness you telegraph to them. As we well know, many of them ascend to top positions in major industries, I might mention Wall Street and banking, heads of Hollywood studios, and members of Congress. On the street levels of everyday life, they work their wiles into all kinds of jobs, by falsifying resumes to fit the careers they are after. One area of human endeavor they seem less adaptable to is refined senses of humor."
Dr. Robert Klitzman, a professor of psychiatry and the director of the master's of bioethics program at Columbia University notes that the American Psychiatric Association says that it is unethical for psychiatrists to comment on an someone's mental state without having examining them personally. But as Alford notes, "you don't need to have met Donald Trump to feel like you know him; even the smallest exposure can make you feel like you've just crossed a large body of water in a small boat with him." "He's very easy to diagnose," psychotherapist Charlotte Prozan explained. "In the first debate, he talked over people and was domineering. "He'll do anything to demean others, like tell Carly Fiorina he doesn't like her looks," Alford explains.
Trump's characteristic "You're fired!" catchphrase highlights his brutal lack of empathy, as does his hyperwillingness to deport immigrants, even though two of his wives have been immigrants.
Mr. Trump's bullying nature—taunting Senator John McCain for being captured in Vietnam, or saying Jeb Bush has "low energy"—is in keeping with the narcissistic profile. "In the field we use clusters of personality disorders," Michaelis said. "Narcissism is in cluster B, which means it has similarities with histrionic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. There are similarities between them. Regardless of how you feel about John McCain, the man served—and suffered. Narcissism is an extreme defense against one's own feelings of worthlessness. To degrade people is really part of a cluster-B personality disorder: it's antisocial and shows a lack of remorse for other people. The way to make it O.K. to attack someone verbally, psychologically, or physically is to lower them. That's what he's doing."Wendy Terrie Behary, the author of Disarming the Narcissist: Surviving and Thriving with the Self-Absorbed, says that, "Narcissists are not necessarily liars, but they are notoriously uncomfortable with the truth. The truth means the potential to feel ashamed. If all they have to show the world as a source of feeling acceptable is their success and performance, be it in business or sports or celebrity, then the risk of people seeing them fail or squander their success is so difficult to their self-esteem that they feel ashamed. We call it the narcissistic injury. They're uncomfortable with their own limitations. It's not that they're cut out to lie, it's just that they can't handle what's real."
Comment: Narcissists are not capable of feeling shame. Their sense of grandiosity is always present. Read "A Structural Theory of Narcissism and Psychopathy" to get an idea of the physiological framework behind narcissism and psychopathy.
Michaelis explains that Trump is "applying for the greatest job in the land, the greatest task of which is to serve, but there's nothing about the man that is service-oriented. He's only serving himself."
Prozan notes that Trump "keeps saying he could negotiate with Putin because he's good at deals. But diplomacy involves a back and forth between equals."
Dr. Klitzman added, "I have never met Donald Trump and so cannot comment on his psychological state. However, I think that, in general, many candidates who run for president are driven in large part by ego. I hope that does not preclude their motivation to govern with the best interests of the public as a whole in mind. Yet for some candidates, that may, alas, be a threat."
Could Trump be helped by clinical treatment?
"I'd be shocked if he walked in my door," Behary said. "Most narcissists don't seek treatment unless there's someone threatening to take something away from them. There'd have to be some kind of meaningful consequence for him to come in."
Gardner added that "for me, the compelling question is the psychological state of his supporters. They are unable or unwilling to make a connection between the challenges faced by any president and the knowledge and behavior of Donald Trump. In a democracy, that is disastrous."
With someone who is so clearly a Narcissistic Psychopath holding the reigns of power, there are numerous issues of concern for the American people. Just this week, Trump said that he would make it illegal for the media to harshly criticize him. He has similarly advocated for illegal and unconstitutional "ID badges" for Muslim Americans, as well as banning Muslims from immigrating to the United States.
Having a man like seize control of the nation's policies, police, and military is something that endangers us all. Help SPREAD THE WORD because our future, freedom and maybe even lives depend on making sure Donald Trump doesn't get into office and carry out the fascist policies he has promised to!
Reader Comments
I also recall first reading about 'the evils of psychology' on Infowars...
Last time he ran, he was a heel (bad guy). People booed him, thought he was incompetent.
Then sometime later he got a heel faced turn: Bad guy becomes the good guy.
Now that the script says outsiders are good and insiders are bad.
All the while, both sides and inside/outsiders are acting out democracy, when in fact we never had a choice- the rich and powerful already run this nation behind the scenes.
The psychologists entered the pool of experts in 1973 when psychology was declared a science by the courts. Being in a profession that has frequent contact with psychologists, I have found them to be a strange lot who spend their lives trying to figure out themselves, and extrapolating on other people their own problems. They are generally not reliable and foment an agenda. Accordingly, I do not trust the assessment of Trump. He is outspoken and honest about his emotions; something uncommon in today's world. He does not fit the mold of the corruptible politician that we have seen in numerous presidents. I would hope that the same psychologists study Obama who has caused the death of over one million people in seven years. Or Hillary who along with Obama is responsible for the immigrant s fleeing to Europe. Trump has many qualities that I do not care for, I do believe that he can bring this country back to sanity and cause the psychologists to question their own.
You may not understand psychology but that doesn't mean that it's not a real and coherent course of study. Yes it has its flaws and shortcomings but so does every science.
I don't think that anyone is going to argue that our current and past presidents don't have similar psychological problems but with trump they are obvious. He has no mask of sanity. He is an insane incoherent nut job.
OK, he's a wild card, he may be the worst thing ever, but this country has so far withstood the Bush family, Clinton Inc., and the Afro-Unamerican, so I'm willing to take a chance on Trump. I don't think he's "an insane incoherent nut job" but if he is, he is still better than the rest of the scumbags running, especially the pathological liar sociopath, Hilldebeast!
How is he better? Sure we know what we are getting with Hillary. I am not endorsing her. I don't prefer the blunt side of the ax over the sharp side or the sharp side over the blunt side. An ax is an ax and it will kill you regardless of which side hits you.
You got to wonder why the mass media is giving him airtime, while keeping Sanders almost invisible. You got to wonder why Trump last time he ran was laughed out and now is taken seriously.
Now any trump supporter who talks on how he isn't beholden to interests- well guess what? In NYC they had a BILLIONAIRE mayor, who did it for almost "free", why???
He privatized a lot of things and his own freaking net worth increased a lot!
So don't bullshit yourself that Trump is doing it for our future. He's doing it for more money, more power- just like BloomBORG did. All of these scumbags work really hard for image , but couldn't work hard in a normal PRODUCTIVE job for a week.
I'll repeat my 2 centavos: Trump is a perfect reflection of America at this very moment in time. He is a creature of the system and it does not like what it sees in that reflection. He is a product of our reality tv based puppet show theatrics, and with all the usual suspect 'friends' in the various mafias, private and public, he's taken the usual case of 'affluenza' on the road for all of the country to see, thus, as the above analyst states, he's a perfect case study. Isn't this what 'Political Ponerology' was all about? How it infiltrates and inserts itself like a kid's 'blankey' over all of us, establishment as well, and suffocates as all to death?
Again, he's perfect for the part, he's not even trying to hide anything. A perfect case study of what our system has become. He is the perfect child of the PTB. No wonder they hate him so much, as it is really their own reflection they hate... so much self-loathing is suffocating themselves as they gasp for air, but find none. They are in a death spiral of destruction.... perfect! Soon it will be time to 'send in the clowns', no?
Otherwise, if this continues, we will have more of the Hillarious one to enjoy as well and if given the time, we can then have a touch of sanity injected into the farce with the start of the Ventura/McKinney campaign. Isn't this just like our last Civil War? Out with the old parties, and in with the new, only everything will go down with this ship, just like the Titanic... or should I say the Olympic?
Can't you just hear the 'fat lady' warming up backstage, just dying to get onstage and finish this thing? Perfect.
Trying to get my head round the almighty arrogance of these pseudo-scientists who presume to diagnose Donald Trump - or anyone - from a great remove.
Exactly how many of these godlike diagnosers have actually sat down with Trump face to face over the minimum 12 hours it would take to talk deeply with him and make any diagnosis, complete with standardized testing, of a serious personality aberration?
I'm with Nev here. Bunch of dysfunctional loser charlatans with occluded political agendas and personality issues trying to make a big name for themselves at the expense of some random high-profile individual. Random because if it wasn't Trump it would be some other apparently key candidate.
Just disgusting.
I wasn't advocating any sort of psychiatric or psychological therapy.
This is what I wrote:
"...how many of these godlike diagnosers have sat down with Trump face to face over the minimum 12 hours it would take to talk deeply with him and make any diagnosis, complete with standardized testing, of a serious personality aberration?"
I was talking about a properly conducted *legally admissible psychiatric evaluation*.
A legally admissible assessment is the only one that counts.
All these other 'evaluations' are nothing but unprofessional, irrational and venomous self-seeking, certainly not to be taken seriously.
If you believe otherwise then you're succumbing to propaganda and confirmation bias. Please remember, it's become all too common practice this employ this type of vicious character besmirching against most serious candidates at any POTUS election.
If these spurious assessments were being leveled at you, as a private citizen, thus through the media, you would be entirely justified in pursuing litigation for libel and would win significant damages. (Assuming that neither of you have any diagnosable personality disorders.)
I don't need to spend any time one-on-one with Trump to know, without any doubt, that he is a narcissistic a-hole. It's so obvious.
He'd be the first one to agree with that assessment, as well. That is part of the arrogance of people with that particular condition. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he was proud of his narcissism.
I'd imagine that he would say something like, "my narcissism has served me well, look at where I am today. I couldn't have been as successful as I am without being a narcissistic a-hole."
I know this because my father is of that type and I have talked about this many times with him.
Regardless of how cogent and undeniable my arguments with him are, he stubbornly sticks to his false ideals.
The thing that gets me the most about this topic is that people fear what he will do if elected to the office. He will do what most presidents before him have done, bend over backwards fulfilling the wishes of the aristocratic elites who really control the world's governments.
That is, if he isn't assassinated before he is able to take the oath...
"Trying to get my head round the almighty arrogance of these pseudo-scientists who presume to diagnose Donald Trump - or anyone - from a great remove."
A hah hah. Calling someone arrogant in comparison to Donald Trump is a pretty good signifier you've got your head round backwards,
But, if you think about it, it echoes the issues illustrated in the article: presuming to know the real characteristics of an individual you don't know.
Indeed.
What is it in the (generalisation) American psyche that causes U.S. citizens to need the phrase "Never smile at a crocodile" explained to them over and over and over again ad nauseum?
As a clinician myself, that did work in the US, for 2 decades, I believe both posts contain lacunae... I generally hold american psychologists in low regard, as I do Trump. Indeed, that anyone would presume to diagnose Trump based upon public pronouncements, I consider despicable. US politics is entertainment: Trump is entertaining. Whether one considers him banal or refreshing, there is no doubt that he offers insight into american culture, ontology and values.
Americans hardly understand psychology or science. This is clearly seen in their attitude towards Freud; here I refer to academics and professionals. The eminent Austrian philosopher of Science, Paul Feyerabend asserted that Americans fetishize science--they simply use it as a slogan but do not understand what it means or what it does.
There is little inclination to examine US culture or oneself among the vast majority of americans. Whichever ideological biases one clings to, for the intellectually brave, Trump offers one fascinating path to self discovery.