Psychoanalyzing Politicians – The Goldwater Rule

(This post has been updated/edited a few times since May of 2017)

My first comment is that the Left weaponizes and diminishes what it “leaches” on to. Second, here is the modern issue put forward by Dr. John Gartner, PH.D., Psychologist and author. Yes, he is “shopping” his book:

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY has a mediocre article… even though they get it wrong… but I liked this part:

…The Goldwater Rule is as valid as ever, insists Steven Berglas, a Los Angeles psychologist and executive coach and consultant. What’s more, he says, Gartner’s petition is a flagrant misuse of the DSM. “You cannot discern from public behavior whether a person’s behavior represents an authentic personality style or is choreographed.” How do we know, he asks, that Trump isn’t “throwing paint balls at the wall, creating chaos so that he can dial it down later to get what he wants.” In fact, he points out, the President seems to be behaving quite rationally in that he is fulfilling his campaign promises.

“I specialize in narcissists, says Berglas. “Many effective leaders are narcissists. Diagnosis is not a cudgel to be tossed around in anger.” And in fact, he believes that doing so is a disservice to the field. The DSM is meant to guide treatment and referrals, and it loses value when it is applied to diagnosis at a distance. He thinks the DSM should come with a warning label: Don’t use this at home.

Calling Gartner’s petition “a temper tantrum,” Berglas insists that keeping out terrorists the wrong way does not warrant calling Trump mentally ill. And the fact that Donald Trump mocked a reporter is deplorable but doesn’t mean he’ll be faster to press the nuclear button….

Just to make clear, Trump did not mock a handicapped person’s disability… he mocked a reporter who happened to be handicap.

Above, Dennis Prager discusses Dr. Gartner’s article and petition saying Donald Trump is a danger to society and the world. Prager reads from and comments from Dr. John Gartner’s article in USA TODAY “Donald Trump’s malignant narcissism is toxic: Psychologist”. The same “psychoanalysis” happened to Barry Goldwater, and since there has been the “GOLDWATER RULE” –

On occasion psychiatrists are asked for an opinion about an individual who is in the light of public attention or who has disclosed information about himself/herself through public media. In such circumstances, a psychiatrist may share with the public his or her expertise about psychiatric issues in general. However, it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement. ~ “The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry“. American Psychiatric Association (2013 ed.).

What Dr. Gartner is practicing sounds like “transference,” which is this:

1. Conveyance of an object from one place to another.

[….]

3. Displacement of affect from one person or one idea to another; in psychoanalysis, generally applied to theprojection of feelings, thoughts, and wishes onto the analyst, who has come to represent some person from thepatient’s past.

It sounds like Dr. Gartner may need some counseling. Here is another article linked at my YouTube by 4TIMESAYEAR:

The psychiatrist who defined narcissistic personality disorder says President Trump may be a “world-class narcissist,” but claims that the president is mentally ill is an insult to those who truly are.

Dr. Allen Frances, a professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical College, wrote in his letter to The New York Times this week that diagnosing Trump at a distance is not an appropriate way to push back on his policies.

“Fevered media speculation about Donald Trump’s psychological motivations and psychiatric diagnosis has recently encouraged mental health professionals to disregard the usual ethical constraints against diagnosing public figures at a distance,” Frances wrote.

“Most amateur diagnosticians have mislabeled President Trump with the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. I wrote the criteria that define this disorder, and Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them. 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,” the doctor added.

[….]

Frances argued that putting Trump in the same category as the mentally ill is an “insult” to those who suffer from mental conditions.

“It is a stigmatizing insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr. Trump (who is neither),” he wrote.

“Bad behavior is rarely a sign of mental illness, and the mentally ill behave badly only rarely….

To follow is a more recent attack by psychology professionals [and legislators! Sad] that again show the lack of concern for the medical ethics involved, and make the profession that truly helps people more of a tarrot card reading with a political flavor to it.

The DAILY CALLER notes that the Yale University psychology professor who called President Trump “mentally impaired” appears to lack a valid license to practice psychiatry in her home state of Connecticut (h-t WEASEL ZIPPERS). The WASHINGTON EXAMINER adds a call by the American Psychological Association (APA) to “cease-and-desist”

The American Psychiatric Association urged members of its profession to uphold its decades-long principle that psychiatrists should never offer diagnostic opinions about people they haven’t personally examined, in light of President Trump’s impending medical exam and questions about his mental fitness.

“We at the APA call for an end to psychiatrists providing professional opinions in the media about public figures whom they have not examined, whether it be on cable news appearances, books, or in social media,” the group wrote. “Arm-chair psychiatry or the use of psychiatry as a political tool is the misuse of psychiatry and is unacceptable and unethical.”

The rebuke came Tuesday as politicians and members of the media were ratcheting up their rhetoric about Trump’s mental health. Earlier in the day, Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle unveiled legislation that would require presidential candidates to have a medical exam and publicly disclose the results before the general election. Joe Scarborough also has said on his MSNBC program “Morning Joe” that Trump has dementia, and more than a dozen lawmakers have discussed Trump with a Yale University psychiatrist who said that Trump was “going to unravel, and we are seeing the signs.” The psychiatrist, Dr. Brandy Lee, who has not examined Trump, edited The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, which includes testimonials from 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts.

But the association reminded its members that one of its core principles, known as the “Goldwater Rule,” has been in place since 1973 and states that psychiatrists should not publicly issue medical opinions about people they haven’t personally examined in a medical context….