7/26/16

Why Donald Trump is not a Psychopath

Back in the early 60s when I first began studying psychology, nymphomania was a thing.  As my abnormal psych professor, the late, great Frank Lackner said, it referred to women who liked sex too much.

The question arose, of course, as to how much was too much.  Apparently too much meant more than whatever the attending psychiatrist felt was appropriate for a woman.

No, really! Some doctor got to tell us we had a mental illness based on his own personal comfort level about sex. Alrighty, then.

Things took a huge shift in the 1970s, when the organization that sets up the various categories of mental illness became more research based and less grounded in the theories of Sigmund Freud. With that shift came lots of changes in how people thought about mental illness.  Liking sex too much was still a thing, but the focus was on whether this liking was making a person’s life difficult or painful and whether it was out of their control.  And that’s where it remains today.

NONE of this has anything to do with Donald Trump.

What does concern us here is that the term Psychopath also dropped out of use in American psychiatry at about the same time and was replaced by the less melodious Anti-Social Personality.  Since psychopath is the term I’ve seen used to describe Trump, we have to go hunting elsewhere for a definition. And that brings us to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist.  You can find the checklist here.  

After a semi-structured interview, the individual is rated on 20 items. They get a score of 0 (doesn’t apply), 1 (applies) or 2 (really applies!) for each item. If they score 30 or more points, then Hare would say they seem to behave like those who are psychopaths.

We don’t have a semi-structured interview, but we have lots of data to work with. So if you like,  apply this to Mr. Trump. When I do, I get a score of around 20.* 

Not a psychopath.  But in a bit, we’ll have a whole ‘nother conversation about Narcissists…

BIG WARNING:  You may find this exercise so engaging that you want to apply it to more personal friends and acquaintances.  Don’t do it. This will lead to nothing but trouble. Sit on your hands. Seriously.

*The Goldwater Rule

Back in the 1960s again, conservative Barry Goldwater was running against Lyndon Johnson for the presidency. Fact magazine asked American psychiatrists if they felt Goldwater was psychologically fit to serve as president. Most didn’t answer, but those who felt he wasn’t fit said, among other things, that he was schizophrenic or  psychotic or narcissistic.  The article was published, Goldwater sued and won, and Fact folded.  Not long after, the American Psychiatric Association developed an ethics guideline that says that shrinks shouldn’t diagnose public figures unless they’ve examined them and received permission to publish.

I am not a psychiatrist. I am a retired professor of psychology who once held a certificate in Psychodiagnostics from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, did an internship in community mental health, and taught Abnormal Psych for 40+ years. In all those years I mostly refrained from diagnosing living people I hadn't met. Mostly. Except for Charles Manson. Oh, and Charlie Sheen. And I didn't even know about the Goldwater Rule.

For a fascinating but rather casual run through the matter, check out Jon Ronson’s book, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

Or for a meatier read, try Martha Stout’s The Sociopath Next Door.