Is Bush an agoraphobic?

[Virginia Dare]

Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder which primarily consists of the fear of experiencing a difficult or embarrassing situation from which the sufferer cannot escape.

Agoraphobics may experience severe panic attacks in situations where they feel trapped, insecure, out of control, or too far from their personal comfort zone. In severe cases, an agoraphobic may be confined not only to their home, but to one or two rooms, and they may even become bed-bound, or a recluse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoraphobia

When was the last time he appeared in public, I mean really in public? He spent about two minutes in the Rotunda at the public viewing for Ford and he looked like he was going to be sick the whole time. The funeral itself was very secure and controlled. His bizarre behavior at the last couple of press conferences has led me to believe he was stoned off his rocker.

In my opinion, chalk this up as another mental issue he is currently dealing with.

Speculation is rampant that last night's "speech" was taped. How is he going to deal with the SOTUA? :popcorn:

[Waya]

1. Don't think he is Agoraphobic......

...I think he is more of the Paranoid Schizophrenic variey....add to that that he is habitually, stoned, drunk or hung-over.....it's no wonder he can't function.....

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Where the hell does THAT come from?

Paranoid schizophrenia? Really? Somebody buy you a copy of the DSM for Xmas or something?

[Riddler]

5. Not sure what that means, but he's an asshole for sure!

[uppityperson]

6. I'd go with personality disorder, maybe combination of borderline & others.

[rocktivity]

15. DING DING DING! Uppityperson, you're our grand prize winner!

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx36.htm

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

SYMPTOMS
(1) has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
(2) is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

(3) believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

(4) requires excessive admiration

(5) has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

(6) is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

(7) lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

(8) is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her

(9) shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

FIVE or more? I say he shows signs of ALL NINE!

:headbang:
rocknation

[uppityperson]

17. borderline personality= jerk (nice jargon, eh?)

can be a combination, having learned from experience with 1 in my past.

[Az]

18. Well they can be but

Borderline disorder is primarily the inability to distinguish things as shades of grey. For BPD people things are either black or white. Bush certainly has this trait in his your either for us or against us position.

[Marie26]

21. Aren't borderlines

highly emotional? Bush has never seemed emotional - it's his absence of emotion that is creepy.

[Az]

25. Thats why I chalk him up as Sociopath instead of BPD or NPD

I don't think its that he is self centered. I think he just can't relate to other people's experiences. He just doesn't connect.

[truth2power]

24. I've known borderlines. He's not one, IMO....

He's a sociopath, for sure. Other mental health issues as well.

[uppityperson]

26. true, thinking more and I'd say not borderline

[tularetom]

2. He was either drunk, medicated, stoned, or scared shitless

or maybe any or all of the above in combination. IMHO the long anticipated breakdown is imminent.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Jesus, this country is turning into Maoist China so fast

I can't believe it. I mean, they have to conceal information from us on whether our Beloved Leader was taped or live. Like when everybody was wondering for a number of months whether Mao was alive, incapacitated, or dead, and somebody got a Paparazzi-style telephoto shot that was alleged to be of him swimming in the Yangtze River.

[Benhurst]

7. I remember that, a really bad cut and paste.

:rofl:

[Annces]

8. Agoraphobic sounds to me like the countless spoiled brats

who never had to pull their weight or account for themselves, but get by on money. Put them in an equalizing situation, and they are helpless.

[Der Blaue Engel]

14. As a former agoraphobic

I can assure you that I was not a spoiled brat (nor did I have any money). Bush may or may not be agoraphobic (I doubt it; it tends to be in conflict with narcissism), but it is a real, and very frightening condition.

I developed it in high school after my mother died, and spent a year and a half doing correspondence school because I was afraid to leave the house.

[Annces]

19. Oh - thanks for the explanation n/t

[Virginia Dare]

28. In your opinion, does he exhibit any agoraphobic behavior?

he does to me..

[Der Blaue Engel]

34. I can't look at him

so I don't know. :)

He could be having anxiety attacks, however, without being agoraphobic. My thought was that maybe he was flying into rages so much that they had to keep him doped up and out of the public eye.

[Virginia Dare]

40. Yeah, he looked like he was really flipping out..

at the Ford viewing. Could have been a p.a. I have suffered from those periodically in my life, so I know what that looks like.

Thanks for the info.

[rebel with a cause]

39. Ok, I will defend myself and other people who are agoraphobic

I am not a spoiled brat, and I worked for years. I fought/ignored my agoraphobia and took care of my self. Unfortunately things in life happened that made my agoraphobia worst. They also made me have a mild form of post traumatic stress syndrome. When put in certain situations, I panic, cannot breathe, and have an unreasonable need to escape. This is not a matter of convenience, it is a pain in the ass.

You try being somewhere you need to be, and suddenly have to leave because you cannot stand to be there. I am on oxygen now, so I have that to control my not being able to breathe, but the panic is much harder to handle. I take medication to help with it, but there is no guarantee that they will always work. I now am "allowed" to stay in my house because of my poor health, only leaving it once every week or two to get needed supplies or to go to the doctor. I am happier now than I ever was when I was forced to go out in the world and be one of the masses. There are other people out there like me, who are working every day while feeling like they are going to loose control to their unreasonable fears.

As for being helpless. I was never was helpless, and still am not.

[sendero]

43. I don't have ..

... full blown agoraphobia, but I have had panic attacks and you have my sympathy. I've learned to avoid situations that will get one going and that works for me, but that is only because there are only a small handful of situations that are "triggers".

Also, I've learned that I can usually "distract" myself from having one if I feel it coming on and take certain measures.

In any event, I know it is a terrible thing to have to deal with. And frankly, there is no way a president could possibly cope.

[Der Blaue Engel]

47. I went through phobia therapy

and learned that avoiding the triggers was actually making them stronger, and the panic attacks worse. I try to force myself to do things that I feel nervous about to keep it from taking hold again, but it isn't easy, especially when you can't find any apparent trigger.

[rebel with a cause]

52. Thank you

I really don't think my case is a bad as it "could" be, but it is worse now than it was even five years ago. In the old days, I also knew how to avoid the panic attacks. For example, if I had to go somewhere unfamiliar, I would either go there a day or so beforehand or just arrive very early for the event in order to be familiar with my surroundings and know where all the exits were. If I went to the movies, graduations or other ceremonies I always made sure I sat on the end seat with a clear path to the exit. I avoided large crowds as much as possible. Etc.

I cared enough in 2004 about the election that I volunteered at the democrat headquarters here. Luckily the building, a house, was small and had a lot of window. The one day that I did not drive myself, but had someone drop me off, the people working there was probably afraid of what I was going to do when my ride did not show up. :7 I called and they said they would be right there. At first I was ok, but then after half an hour, I began to pace the floor, going from one window to another. I did breathing exercises to keep from going into a full panic. I could see that the young people there was beginning to get as much panic on their faces and I felt inside me. I tried laughing it off, and I walked outside and stood in the parking lot in the rain until my ride finally got there. In the old days I would have taken off walking and walked the miles it would take to get me home, but my health would not allow me to that. Now I knew that my feelings were unreasonable, and my actions were uncalled for, but I could not control them more than I was. Because it could have been worse, trust me. I went to the doctor and got medicine before I was to set foot in that office again.

I agree, there is no way a president could be one. Especially not to the point where I am.

[blues90]

46. I also suffer from this horrid thing

Agoraphobia was described as being afraid of open spaces .

I know only too well how this feels and can say bush is not suffering from this .

I have experienced almost every symptom this involves , once you think you have gotten past it another symptom comes along and brings you right back to the feeling of doom and certain death and there is nothing one can do other than get the hell out quick even if it means running madly through a store or moving aisles of items and leaping over shopping carts .

[rebel with a cause]

53. afraid of "open spaces"?

Are you sure of that. I have never been afraid of open spaces. It is the opposite, it is unfamiliar closed in places that cause my panic. Yes, escapes from a crowded store is an all too familiar experience for me also.

[rebel with a cause]

56. Oh, I get it.

Feeling lost in an open space. Yeah, that I can relate to. Crowded places indoors or out are the worst though.

[bicentennial_baby]

50. Thank you

My gf is, severely... :hug:

[rug]

9. He is an ideophobe.

[porphyrian]

10. That's certainly possible, though I'd vote for paranoia first. - n/t

[Az]

11. He is a Sociopath aka Psychopathic Personality

He cannot clue into the issues of other people. He is aware of other people. But he has no sense of right and wrong regarding his interaction with them. Killing someone has as much emotional impact as helping someone for him. He may be aware of the legal and socially prescribed limits on such behaviour and thus keeps himself in check. But he has no emotional grasp of it. It just does not make sense to him. Everything relates to himself rather than society.

[Skidmore]

12. He's a psychopath and savvy enough to realize that he's

pissed enough people off in the world that some one would kill his ass if he went out without an entire military between him and the rest of the world. When he leaves office and has to make do with a couple of SS officers, then he'll turn into a real recluse. That man has so much bad karma accrued that the entire universe is going to dump on him at the same time one day.

You know, if he were poor and had the same issues, he'd have been on a lock ward a few times by now and probably homeless too. Money and insanity are a bad combination.

[Pastiche423]

13. No

A true agoraphobic can not leave their safe place.

He's a lot of bad things, but this is not one of them.

[Virginia Dare]

30. When was the last time you truly saw him "out there"...

the past few times he's been "out" and it wasn't really in public, but in front of a controlled group of people, he looked like he was stoned. I think they have to load him up on something just to get him to face other people.

[Pastiche423]

35. I am a recovering agoraphobic

Going out the front door was impossible for me. When I tried, it felt like I was going to die.

He has been out of the WH numerous times.

[Virginia Dare]

38. Were you medicated though?

I'm not arguing with you, since you have firsthand experience, I'm sure you're probably correct, but I'm just wondering if that's why he seems to be so heavily medicated when he's out in public. It could be any number of things, of course, severe depression for instance.

[Pastiche423]

51. ag·o·ra·pho·bia :

Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek agora + New Latin -phobia
: abnormal fear of being helpless in an embarrassing or unescapable situation that is characterized especially by the avoidance of open or public places.

Thank you so much upping my anxiety level.

[Virginia Dare]

57. Not my intention...

I have suffered from panic attacks off and on since college, I was never an agoraphobic, but it was debilitating enough, where I could not imagine if it was to that point, but when he was in the Capitol Rotunda, he just really looked to me like he was suffering from one, so maybe he is at that level, maybe something about that space set him off. I'm starting to see some of his defense mechanisms, like the inappropriate laughing, and the squeezing of the dais when he talks, maybe even the jaw grinding may be related. Who knows? He's a man in need of help, that's all I know.

Take care of yourself Pastiche423!

[Jack Rabbit]

16. Doesn't sound like a good trait for a President of the United States

or even a presumputive President.

[Marie26]

20. Nah

He's a narcissist, and can't be confronted w/any situation that might make him look or feel bad. So he creates a bubble to support his delusions. It leads him to isolation, but for completely different reasons.

[Raksha]

22. I doubt it very much, and I speak from personal experience

as someone who suffered from panic disorder for years and still do (but rarely at this point). If he were really an agoraphobic he wouldn't be able to spend hours riding his bicycle, for example. I believe he's suffering from tremendous anxiety right now, but it's because he knows he has ZERO credibility with the American people.

[Virginia Dare]

29. I haven't seen him on the bike lately either...

he always seems to have a paniced look in his eye when he's "out". I don't know, I could be wrong, but thanks for your insight.

[lectrobyte]

23. I don't think so, he seems to like the limelight and joking around

when things are very much going his way. It's only when he's forced to do something, like attend a funeral, or give a speech, then you see last night's version.

[Fleshdancer]

27. I think he's just a product of poor parenting

This is what happens when kids grow up with absolutely no consequences for their actions and the ability to get whatever they want when they want. No discipline and no empathy.

[orpupilofnature57]

31. Capt. Queeg fretting about the strawberries,looked more composed

Impeachment on the basis of Insanity by many definitions.

[rebel with a cause]

32. I'm agoragphobic

bush is not. I am not one of the worse cases, but I am one.

[Virginia Dare]

33. Thanks for your insight, what makes you think that?...n/t

[rebel with a cause]

44. I don't know, I just don't get the fibe.

He could be heavily medicated and be one, but here again there is just something about him that doesn't come across as one. Agorophobics tend to panic in situations unfamiliar to them. In this panic there are certain behaviors that exist that no amount of medication would do away with completely. Take for example, the not being able to get out a door. For a true agoraphobic, this would have been panic time. This is all based on my opinion of what we/they would do, but here goes.

The second tug on the door would have been more desperate. They would not have calmly stood there and looked around. They would have had a moment of pure fear and then quickly looked for another way out. The panic would have been evident.

To me, the reason he no longer makes as many appearances is because he is not one of the popular crowd anymore. It is just like high school.(his mentallity) When he was popular (all the people that were allowed to be around him told him he was) it was okay for him to be out there among those who loved him. Now they cannot find enough people who love him for him to come out and pretend he is the "golden boy".

[orpupilofnature57]

37. Shrub is a Megalomaniac the top of the Misanthrope chain, only guys..

...like Hitler ,Nero ,idi Amen ,Lex Luther, the Riddler.

[Catchawave]

36. Isn't public speaking one of the worst "phobias" ?

I think Bush's problem is he's micromanaged by his "handlers", so he's more along the lines of a trained circus poodle.

I don't think he could get in front of cameras, or any public event, without being heavily medicated if he were an agoraphobic?

He may suffer from a social phobia or general anxiety disorder? He is truly not comfortable whenever I see him "live" anywhere. Even on the stump with friendly republicans and the troops.

[Neoma]

41. Who knows.

But i'd rather not know he has something in common with me if he does.

[opihimoimoi]

42. Bush is a BULLY EXPOSED...He knows WE KNOW...he knows his crap ain't sellin anymore

Thus the TRAPPED LOOK....He is Trapped by his own Lies.

Result??? Confusion and Apprehension......etc.

[Nikia]

45. I doubt it

Being a functional agorophobic myself.
I suppose that it could have arose suddenly though because of all the stress of realzing what most people think of him.

[u4ic]

48. No

Does he have psychological issues? Absolutely. I wouldn't be surprised if he was medicated, either. Lots of Americans are, too.

Why wouldn't he be 'out there', in public?

He isn't a good off the cuff speaker, and none too bright, no doubt about that. "Image" issues, especially now when he needs to be seen as a 'strong leader'. (I know, I know...I'm laughing at that, too. We are dealing with people with a distorted sense of reality, though)

He's also a hated man. Have to keep him safe. Security reasons.

[AlCzervik]

49. he's like Nixon was in the last year cept not nearly as smart. Nixon went

to friendly events only and and surrounded himself, almost shut himself in really with his small group of advisor's.

[rebel with a cause]

54. Nixon was paranoid

and I suspect bush is too. Maybe the whole administration. "You are either with us, or you are against us" "If you don't support us, you are for the terrorist" these all sound a bit paranoid to me.

[AlCzervik]

55. oh he's paranoid for sure, he should be.