Book describes Bush as suffering from delusions

[deadparrot]

London: Bushisms may have made US President George W Bush the butt of jokes all over the world, but there is far more serious allegation against him this time, and medical records to corroborate them, according to a leading psychiatrist.

Professor Justin Frank of the George Washington University in Washington DC in his book ‘Bush on the Couch’ has said that Bush is a paranoid schizophrenic and is a danger to the world because he actually believes he is all-powerful and beyond law.

Prof. Frank said Bush suffered from a condition known as megalomania, which is commonly found in schizophrenics and extensive study of his medical records and behaviour had hinted at the same.

He said Bush’s mental state was a result of his untreated alcoholism in his youth, his fundamentalist religious beliefs and his love-hate relationship with his former president father George Bush senior.

http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=47065

[PurpleChez]

1. Intriguing! And terrifying!

I always knew he was bat-shit crazy.

[Tempest]

2. This is old news

The book has been out for almost two years now.

[Southsideirish]

9. So what? Its still relevant - he's still around and crazier than ever. I

saw an interview with Dr. Frank when this came out and he is a rock solid professional man with many years of experience. It took a lot of guts to write it and I'm glad he did.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. Anything that gets more people exposed to it is a plus in my opinion.

It's still highly relevant and an important read.

[EFerrari]

3. If that is what this doc said, he sounds like a quack.

You don't get schizophrenia via alcholism and issues with your parents.

[nuxvomica]

7. Good point. I suspect the article doesn't represent the book well

Here's another link: http://hnn.us/articles/7106.html
No mention of schizophrenia but an interesting analysis of *'s inner turmoil. I've not read the book but when all is said and done I don't need a psychiatrist to tell me this guy is dangerous anyway.

[hlthe2b]

11. Correct, Nuxvomica, The article is inconsistent with Frank's book.

It projects what many might "think," but is not consistent with what Dr. Frank has written, nor said on the subject.

[hlthe2b]

8. SFEXPAT2000, post appears an attempt to "interpret" Dr. Frank

He has not given, (nor would he) a defnitive diagnosis of Bush* as he has said in many interviews I have read/heard since the publication of his book. He does examine Bush*s history via video and published (documented) details of his past and defines behavioral patterns that could be suggestive of multiple disorders, including a learning disorder (probably dyslexia) his untreated alcoholism, etc., etc.

Dr. Frank is a very well thought of psychiatrist/pschoanalysist and medical faculty at George Washington University Medical School in DC. He does not cross the line, a la Bill Frist with his long distance "diagnoses." Take a look at this book or google for multiple previous interviews. A lot of his observations are confirmations of some of the patterns that Mark Crispin Miller first noted in the "Bush Dyslexicon," but expanded with a psychiatric discussion of how his patterns of behavior might have been impacted by his history and VERY dysfunctional upbringing.


I feel a strong need to correct misimpressions on this. Dr. Frank is a credible, and ethical individual. That the lay public will misinterpret or "expound" on his words is to be expected, I guess.

[EFerrari]

15. And so, my caveat.

:)

[Jane Austin]

13. I don't recall his saying that bush is a paranoid-schizophreniac at all.

He talks about a lot of things that are observable from a distance, but I don't believe he makes that statement at all.

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. That is NOT what the doctor said. I've read the book....

I don't recall his conclusion being schizophrenia. I recall it as being NPD and APD. His "delusions" are not characterized as schizophrenic but self-delusions, i.e. delusion of grandeur.

[pacalo]

26. Thanks! I'm relieved to hear from someone who's *read* the book.

No psychiatrist would even suggest that he's schizophrenic. This rumor is blowing his credibility, so thanks for speaking up, PP.

[EFerrari]

27. Something seemed amiss somewhere there.

We have to be good readers of this info, imho. Thanks for the clarification. :)

[pacalo]

25. He totally lost me when he used the term "paranoid schizophrenia."

This is not to believed. Sure, the preznit isn't in touch with reality; he's delusional, a sociopathic liar, has no conscience, & is paranoid (secretive, controlling, afraid to hire outside his close-knitted cabal). But anyone who claims he's a paranoid schizophrenia cannot call himself a psychiatrist; he has no idea what the term means.

[cliss]

4. Randi Rhodes was talking about this

yesterday afternoon. She interviewed Prof. Frank. What he had to say was chilling, positively shocking. I got home before the interview was over. Turned off the car, turned the radio back on. Sat in my driveway, listened to the whole thing.

It was chilling to the bone: we really have a lunatic in the White House. Thank God he's just a figurehead.

[nuxvomica]

10. The stuff about his sister having no funeral

And his reluctance to attend the funerals of those killed in Iraq seemed pretty canny to me. I think Randi's actually the one who made that connection.

[EFerrari]

16. This fascinates me and I'll tell you why.

My sister in law ended her life in her parked car in her parents' garage. The in laws cleaned the car and sold it to a cousin and then, went on vacation. They kept their daughter's ashes in an urn for a time, then on yet another vacation, spread them somewhere.

For several years after joining that family, I thought them simply horrible people.

Then, come to find out my husband is on the autism spectrum. He's so high functioning and smart, he was in his forties before he was diagnosed. He can't force himself to go to funerals although he did eulogize his father when he died.

When the father died, neither surviving wife or my husband cried or even hugged. There was no real sharing of grief as most people understand it.

I'm pretty sure my mother in law is also somewhere on the autism spectrum. She loves her children in the way that she does which is very different than the way someone who isn't autistic might experience it. Chiefly, I think you could say her ability to project or experience the projections of others is very limited, and that makes her extremely pragmatic in her also limited interactions with other people.

[nuxvomica]

19. Reminds me of what Vonnegut said about the Bush admin.

He described them as psychopathic and said it was as though aliens or pod people had taken over. Certainly such behavior seems alien to most of us. Your in-laws seem emotionally cool like the "turned" people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Whether the Bushes are the same way is another matter, though. There are many paths to similar behavior characteristics and we don't know the whole story but I wonder about other background issues like Prescott's dealings with the Nazis and the idea that's been raised about whether Shrub suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. Hopefully we can get out of the messes Junior created without having to figure out exactly why he behaves this way. ;-)

[EFerrari]

20. Well, yes. First things first.

LOL!

[nicknameless]

29. Chilling is right. Both her Thursday and Friday shows.

I had read a little about bush's sister and her death, but Randi reported much more than I had read.
That family is absolutely sick.

:scared:

[saltpoint]

5. First thing needs to be done is to send Bill Frist a video tape of the

president and let him do an analysis and prognosis.

_ _ _

I can't speak to the clinical definition and know if it applies to the president, but there must be something in the DSM about people who are adults chronologically but behave as if they were 4-year olds.

Widespread Asshole Syndrome, NOS. Could that be it?

[madrchsod]

6. i came to the same conclusion many years ago

and so has everyone on this site...

[tandot]

12. Antisocial Personality Disorder (Sociopath) would be my diagnosis:

Glibness and Superficial Charm

Manipulative and Conning
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.

Grandiose Sense of Self
Feels entitled to certain things as "their right."

Pathological Lying
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities. Extremely convincing and even able to pass lie detector tests

More here:

http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~mcafee/Bin/sb.html

This exactly describes Bush.

[Pacifist Patriot]

23. I think it's both NPD and APD. Dr. Frank focuses on the narcissistic..

disorder. But I happen to agree with you. There is definite antisocial personality disorder as well. When the diagnostic traits of both are combined, President Bush comes out looking like the poster child.

[elehhhhna]

28. He covers that list in half a press conference.

[godhatesrepublicans]

14. I always thought he had obsessive compulsive personality disorder.

The whole thing about his obsession with exercise, not changing his routines, and never showing what he perceives to be weakness, I could go on, but we all know what's wrong with him.

Check this out, and see if it doesn't fit what we know of his personality.


The Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

Essential Feature

The essential feature of the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is a preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency. Individuals with OCPD are conscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about morality, ethics, or values. They may force both themselves and others to follow rigid moral principles and very high standards of performance. They are inclined to be severely self-critical. These individuals are deferential to authority and rules. They insist on literal compliance, regardless of circumstances (DSM-IV, 1994, pp. 669-670).

The ICD-10 has an anankastic personality disorder characterized by doubts, perfectionism, conscientiousness, checking and preoccupation with details, stubbornness, caution and rigidity. There may be insistent and unwelcome thoughts or impulses that do not attain the severity of an obsessive-compulsive disorder. These individuals are also inclined to experience undue preoccupation with productivity to the exclusion of interpersonal relationships; they engage in pedantry and strict adherence to social conventions; they are likely to insist that others do things exactly the way they do them (ICD-I0, 1994, pp. 231-232).

Frances, et.al (1995, p. 378) describe individuals with OCPD as:

* perfectionistic, constricted, and excessively disciplined;
* behaviorally rigid, formal, cool, distant, intellectualized, and detailed;
* aggressive, competitive, and impatient;
* driven with a chronic sense of time pressure and an inability to relax;
* controlling of themselves, others, and situations;
* indirect in their expression of anger although an apparent undercurrent of hostility is often present;
* often inclined to hoard money and other possessions;
* preoccupied with orderliness, neatness, and cleanliness; and
* inflexible and stubborn in relationships.

[EFerrari]

17. Here's a snip from the Publishers' Weekly review at Amazon.

"Psychoanalyst Frank sifts through family memoirs, the writings of critics like Al Franken and David Corn and the public record of Bush’s personal idiosyncrasies for clues to the President’s character, interpreting the evidence in the rigidly Freudian framework of child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein. He finds that Bush, psychically scarred by an absentee father and a cold, authoritarian mother, has developed a galloping case of megalomania, characterized by a Manichaean worldview, delusions of persecution and omnipotence and an "anal/sadistic" indifference to others’ pain, with removal from office the only "treatment option." The author’s exegesis of Bush’s personality traits-the drinking problem, the bellicose rhetoric, the verbal flailings and misstatements of fact, the religiosity and exercise routines, the hints of dyslexia and hyperactivity, the youthful cruelty to animals and schoolmates, the smirk-paints an intriguing, if exaggerated and contemptuous, portrait of a possibly troubled public figure."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060736712/ref=sr_11_1/103-4599270-4220667?%5Fencoding=UTF8

I studied Klein's work for years. And suppose, I agree with the way Frank describes Bush (if this snip is accurrate!) but not with the causes he assigns.

[yurbud]

18. old news but may be news to freepers starting to doubt cap. Queeg

[jazzjunkysue]

21. Fabulous book. It's really a page-turner! He's certifiable!

[Chalco]

30. Justin Frank on Randi Rhodes

I heard her interview with Dr. Frank the other day. The thing that disturbed me the most was the fact that Bush used to put firecrackers in the anuses of frogs, throw them in the air and watch them blow up.

Cruely to animals signifies the potential for violence towards humans.