Noted Psychiatrist Says Donald Trump’s Recent Erratic Behavior Shows Him In ‘Psychotic-Like State’
A psychiatrist who sounded one of the first alarms about Donald Trump’s apparently deteriorating mental condition said that the president’s recent string of erratic behavior shows that he has slipped into a “psychotic-like state.”
Dr. Lance Dodes, the former assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who contributed to the book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, said in a recent interview that a string of strange interactions from Trump are a new cause for concern. Appearing on MSNBC, Dodes responded to the president’s recent tweet promoting conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root who said that Jews in Israel view Trump as the “second coming of God.” The “second coming” is a concept from Christianity referring to the expected return of Jesus Christ to Earth, while Israeli Jews do not believe that Jesus is the messiah and would still be awaiting what they would deem the “first coming.”
Trump also got into a public spat with the prime minister of Denmark after the country’s government shot down Trump’s plans to buy the island of Greenland. Apparently angry at the public rebuff, Trump called Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen “nasty” and publicly canceled his planned visit.
In his appearance on MSNBC, Dodes said that Trump has a “fundamental need to be all-powerful and all-loved” and is unable to tolerate any challenges. Dodes warned that the more Trump is challenged, the more unhinged he becomes — and potentially more violent. Dodes also described Trump’s current behavior as a “psychotic-like state.”
“He doesn’t really love anyone except himself,” Dodes said. “That’s not a slur, that’s a psychological fact. People like him are about him. If he’s not useful to him, he stops loving him. That’s part of the essential emptiness of Donald Trump. He doesn’t have real relationships with people.”
Dodes was one of the first mental health experts to speak out publicly about what he sees as troubling signs of Donald Trump’s health. He has regularly spoken about symptoms that match narcissism, which can cause those afflicted to give into delusions of their own powers.
"The more you press him, the more you see how disorganized and empty he is," Dr. Lance Dodes, a psychiatrist, says of President Trump's public behavior. https://t.co/vmILl1BjFr
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 22, 2019
A number of other mental health experts have spoken out about worrying signs and symptoms they see in Donald Trump, including his stream of false and misleading statements. This has also caused some controversy within the medical world, as it has generally been considered bad practice for doctors to publicly comment on individuals they have not examined or treated.
