Posted on 12/01/2019 5:05:32 AM PST by Candor7
Many clinicians, political commentators, and members of the public have speculated upon the mental health of President Donald Trump. Indeed, over 70,000 people self-identifying as "mental health professionals" have signed a petition declaring that "Trump is mentally ill and must be removed." In sociological terms, the "medical gaze" has been hitherto focused on President Trump, and to a lesser extent his ardent supporters.
However, in recent months, many have been questioning the direction of this "medical gaze." In fact, more and more people are suggesting that this "medical gaze" should be reversed and refocused on President Trump’s most embittered and partisan opponents. Some have even suggested that these opponents are experiencing a specific mental condition—a condition which has been labelled "Trump Derangement Syndrome" (TDS). What does DSM-5 say about "Trump Derangement Syndrome"?
Mental illnesses are officially classified in a dense and dry book published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). This book contains 947 pages and lists hundreds of mental disorders; TDS is nowhere to be seen. Similarly, a review of scholarly databases such as MEDLINE and Google Scholar reveal no academic papers on this alleged syndrome. Officially at least, TDS is not a real, diagnosable, or treatable mental disorder.
That said, medical anthropologists and critical sociologists have convincingly argued that DSM-5 is a flawed document. Indeed, social scientists have long recognized that there are numerous "folk categories" of mental disorders that are considered real conditions by the general public, even though they are not recognized as such in the DSM. These include categories such as "burnout" or "nervous breakdown."
As such, lack of official recognition does not mean that TDS is not a real mental condition. Lay Understandings of "Trump Derangement Syndrome"
There is no shared lay understanding of TDS, mainly because it is a folk category rather than a professional category. As such, there is currently much armchair speculation about the nature and existence of TDS, without consensus.
The name itself explicitly suggests a "syndrome," which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "a characteristic combination of opinions, emotions, or behavior." Several commentators have run with this, putting forth suggestions about opinions, emotions and behaviors characterizing TDS.
Shared amongst these is a notion that the everyday activities of President Trump trigger some people into distorted opinions, extreme emotions and hysterical behaviors. Well-known writer Bernard Goldberg gives supposed behavioral examples of TDS among Trump’s political opponents, including fainting, vomiting, students retreating to "safe spaces" and others demanding "therapy dogs." Political commentator Justin Raimondo focuses on opinions, language and cognition, writing in the LA Times that "sufferers speak a distinctive language consisting of hyperbole [leading to] a constant state of hysteria… the afflicted lose touch with reality." article continues after advertisement
Such forms of highly emotional reaction could be something akin to the fainting and screaming characterizing American Beatlemania in the 1960s. Unlike the Beatles, however, the extreme emotional reaction alleged to characterize TDS is not based on adoration and admiration, but on fear and loathing.
Contrariwise, many others ridicule the notion that TDS is anything but a malicious slur term used to discredit and delegitimize criticism of President Trump. For example, CNN’s Chris Cillizza may speak for many when he stated: "The truth is that TDS is just the preferred nomenclature of Trump defenders who view those who oppose him and his policies as nothing more than blind hatred." Likewise, Adam Gopnik writes that "our problem is not TDS; our problem is Deranged Trump Self-Delusion."
In other words, there are polarized opinions about the nature, reality and existence of TDS. Conclusion
The wider public may be unaware that psychiatrists and social scientists spend considerable time and energy behind closed doors pondering over the existence and reality of mental conditions. This has led the APA to revise the DSM five times since 1952, considerably expanding the list of official mental disorders with each revision. As far as I am aware, few psychiatrists are currently arguing that DSM-6 should contain TDS as a mental disorder.
That said, in its official definition of mental disorder, the DSM-5 states that "a mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior…mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social, occupational, or other important activities."
Many have argued that some people have been seriously disturbed and distressed by the policies, speech, behavior, and tweets of President Trump, so much so that it has affected their cognitive, affective, and behavioral functioning. Such people may need mental health support. As such, further research is necessary to investigate the extreme reactions toward President Trump, in the same way that researchers investigate other extreme social phenomena, such as Beatlemania or the like. This will shed light on the reality of this emerging folk category that has been labelled by many as "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
trumpophobia & Trump monomania + pathologically blaming of Trump for all problems + paranoia + chronic anxiety disorder + bizarre delusions (victimization, oppression, persecution) + hysterical hatred/rage/self-pity + chronic pathological obsessions (victimization, oppression, persecution) + pathological hypersensitivity + pathological irrationality + reduced impulse control + loss of ability to reason + chronic pathological lying and manipulation + over-reactivity + projection of their own insanities onto Trump + general chronic depravity
Otherwise known as hatred.
A condition that evolved in humans because it was helpful in winning wars.
So, 70,000 “mental health” authorities declare Trump insane and incompetent to hold office based only on biased second and third and fourth hand news reports, but - because Trump Derangement Syndrome is not in their official book of legally insane diagnosis BY a mental health diahnoser, Trump Derangement Syndrome Indies not exist.
Thanks Robert A Cook PE.
Excellent.
AND the press is not pushing the American Psychological Association to 'comment' on Trump Derangement Syndrome.
So, 70,000 “mental health” authorities declare Trump insane and incompetent to hold office based only on biased second and third and fourth hand news reports, but - because Trump Derangement Syndrome is not in their official book of legally insane diagnosis BY a mental health diahnoser, Trump Derangement Syndrome Indies not exist.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This is exactly the point. The psychiatrists are plagued by TDS just as much as their lefty clients.
So without therapy, what can we do with these Zombie Apocalypse TDS gorillas?
70,000 people commit an act that is specifically defined as unprofessional by that profession. And they claim to be professionals of that profession?
“Then they can regain their sanity.”
Conservatives don’t lose their mind when confronted with Leftist idiocy. Their reasoning usually remains based in rational deductions
Leftists lose their minds because their beliefs are flawed in the first place.
They can regain their sanity when they challenge themselves to practice rational thought not swim in emotional based drivel.
Jonathan Haidt in “The Coddling of the American Mind” discusses how colleges (and K-12 schools to a lesser degree) teach mentally ill health patterns.
They teach kids to engage in projection. If they say something you could interpret wrong, assume ill intent and that they hate you. Never mind liberals are increasing diversity that increases the odds of faux pas.
Teach kids to catastrophize. That every little micro-aggression is equal to a real aggression, that an insult is equal to being beaten up. It creates fear and hatred, stress and social division.
Protect them from every failure or challenge. Then they think they can’t handle it, because you didn’t let them lose a soccer game or teach them how to recover from a breakup. As adults, they face rejection and failure all the time. You didn’t get the job or the date. They see the one or two failures as proof and fail to launch, chronically anxious and depressed. Haidt calls it taught fragility.
Now combine it with the systematic fearmongering for political purposes. Hate whites, they’re oppressing you. Hate men, they’re oppressing you. Hate older adults including your parents, they’re selfishly killing you.
A third of parents (32%) also thought their children were anxious about global warming and climate
change.
4 in 10 British parents indicate children are anxious about threat of terrorism
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/news/4-10-british-parents-indicate-children-are-anxious-about-threat-terrorism
Swedish schoolgirl who refused to take part in one of campaigner Greta Thunberg’s ‘climate strikes’ is ‘bullied by her own teacher’ and labelled a ‘climate denier’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7062517/Swedish-girl-bullied-not-participating-Greta-Thunberg-climate-strike.html
It is a deliberate co-opting of Islam’s memes. Hate the unbeliever so you won’t ever listen to what they say. Equate their speech with violence so you’re permitted to beat and kill the infidel who utters hate speech/blasphemy in public.
Thank you for the wonderfully detailed post. Everyone should read it.
You can bet every one of them has a Voodoo doll or two.
The author knows it’s real but doesn’t want to confirm it in print. ‘More research needs to be done’.
I believe in TDS, there was also BDS (Bush), and if I have to be honest, on the right, there was CDS and ODS. Some people just take their politics too seriously. Especially liberals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.