Through the entire campaign and election of Donald Trump, various professionals weighed in on what the were seeing. Some psychologists said that the new President suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a serious and lifelong mental illness.
It’s been hypothesized that among other issues, the President has Attention Deficit Disorder and an expressive language disorder.
All of the writers have been careful to state that they haven’t actually met Trump. Psychologists and psychiatrists are specifically forbidden by their professional codes of ethics from diagnosing people they haven’t evaluated.
After the first week of President’s administration, however, more and more psychologists have begun to speak out, citing the danger posed to the nation by a president who is so mentally ill.
John D. Gartner, Ph.D., is a psychologist in Baltimore and New York, where he specializes in treating Personality Disorders. He is a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School.
Dr. Gartner is the latest in a string of highly respected mental health professionals to sound the warning on the severe mental illness that our President is showing every day. Dr. Gartner said:
“Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president.”
Dr. Gartner went on to state his professional opinion that Donald Trump suffers from “Malignant Narcissism.” This terms is used to describe people who suffer from a combination of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder and sadism.
To be clear, “Malignant Narcissism” is seen by professionals as being the most extreme and severe end of the range of narcissistic disorders. It’s usually considered to be incurable.
Dr. Gartner has no doubt that this is the best descriptor for President Trump, saying:
“We’ve seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably.”
This well known and successful Doctor of Psychology was willing to risk repercussions from his colleagues and his professional association by speaking this way about a public figure.
He did so because people with Malignant Narcissism are incredibly dangerous to those around them. The more power they have, the greater that danger. Like many other mental health professionals, Dr. Gartner feels that patriotism and his own morality made it wrong for him to remain silent.
Jean Fitzpatrick is another psychologist who spoke to the NY DailyNews. She said that Trump’s TV interview with David Muir showed that he lacks the ability to identify reality. He repeated his unshakable beliefs that his inaugural crowd was enormous, that the CIA gave him a long standing ovation and that he should have won the popular vote. She agreed with Dr. Gartner that behavior like this is dangerous in a man with so much power.
She added that Trump’s mental illness is why he surrounds himself with lackeys who know that they must never challenge or question him. She put it this way:
“Living with a person with narcissistic or sociopathic traits is exhausting because they are all about meeting their needs and getting constant strokes.”
Other mental health professionals agree with these statements. They are certain that we have elected a President who suffers from a severe and permanent mental illness that makes him dangerous while holding his current position.
Now we have to hope that enough of their colleagues will join them in stating the truth. We have to hope that they can convince Congress to utilize the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove this sick, sick man from public office.
You can learn more about Malignant Narcissism here. These symptoms are truly terrifying.
You can hear another therapist discussion narcissistic personalities below.
Featured image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr. (CC BY-SA 2.0)
