To focus too much on NPD might cause us to miss the forest for the trees. Maybe the easiest way to reconcile the conflicting claims is to focus less intently on the question of whether Trump qualifies, in a narrowly defined way, for the specific diagnosis of NPD, and more on what we know about people who are deeply narcissistic, whether or not they meet some clinical threshold. This debate isn’t an easy call, and there are a lot of eminently qualified people on both sides. Given his actions in office, “It seems there is no impulse control or apparent ability to consider feedback from anyone who disagrees with him.

I’ve stood by it.” But she went on to argue that while in normal times, the so-called “Goldwater Rule” is important, Trump’s behavior warrants an exception. “It’s a good rule: Mental illness carries a stigma and it’s irresponsible, as well as ethically wrong, to impugn someone’s reputation based on an uninformed opinion. “Since public calls to diagnose Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1960s, the mental health community has stuck to a code: Do not diagnose a person in the public eye, only in a diagnostic setting, no matter how tempting,” she wrote. There’s a historical component to this controversy, explained Sherry Amatenstein, a New York–based therapist and one of the signatories to the petition, in Vox. “He may be a world-class narcissist, but this doesn’t make him mentally ill, because he does not suffer from the distress and impairment required to diagnose mental disorder.” He went on to claim that “It is a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them,” Frances argued. “I wrote the criteria that define disorder, and Mr. Their side of the debate got its loudest voice this week in another letter to the Times, from Allen Frances, who was chairman of the task force that wrote the DSM-IV. Other therapists view such speculation as inappropriate. Individuals with these traits distort reality to suit their psychological state, attacking facts and those who convey them (journalists, scientists).” Related StoriesĪ Therapist Attempts to Explain Donald Trump’s Rocky First Few Days in Office “His words and behavior suggest a profound inability to empathize. Trump’s speech and actions demonstrate an inability to tolerate views different from his own, leading to rage reactions,” they wrote. And a few days ago, the New York Times ran a letter to the editor co-signed by 35 “psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers” in which the clinicians argued that Trump was unfit for office due to his psychological state (though they didn’t name a specific disorder). There’s a petition with 23,500 petitions and counting called “Mental Health Professionals Declare Trump is Mentally Ill And Must Be Removed,” though it’s hard to know how many of the signatories are actual mental-health professionals. Science of Us has published several articles in this vein, including two in which I interviewed Wendy Behary, a therapist who works with clients with NPD, and who believes the condition provides a helpful framework for understanding Trump.īehary is far from the only mental-health expert to have made such claims. By now, you’ve probably read an article or two about how Donald Trump has some psychological disorder - narcissistic personality disorder is the most commonly cited one - and how this can help explain his mental state and behavior.

Trump psychotic break