This statement resonated with me: "Trump Contagion—a kind of shared psychosis, which is commonly observed in settings where severe symptoms go untreated, as known about since the nineteenth century (which I have seen a lot of while working in public-sector settings). "
I know very little about this, but I have been studying up, which brought me to this site. I was alarmed about the big change all around me after we elected Trump and covid struck. We do indeed appear to be struggling ever since with some kind of "mass psychosis". I don't recognize this country anymore.
Here is an example: My closest friend in high school went on to become a renowned electronics engineer: many patents to his name, on boards of major corporations, DARPA. He is a devout Christian. And he became an extreme right winger. Just this morning he forwarded me a screed about 'the government coming to take all our guns way, we have to arm up and prepare to save our nation . . .' What "ate" his brilliant mind?
I am a Democrat and a gun owner. The NRA just sent out a letter implying the government is about to take our guns away. It was a giant rally cry to the disturbed. It's very scary !
It's sad as well as horrifying. As with many things (not to oversimplify), money may have some influence--that is, among a certain combination of people who have a lot of it and very little of it. "Government" can get in the way of their greed and prejudice, and both are irresponsible, to say the least. I have saved a cartoon that shows a guy (likely from the "very little of it") armed to the teeth, surrounded by various pedestrians. Some are dressed as Muslims and Jews, a couple is mixed race and another is two men holding hands, etc. The caption has the armed guy saying, "I feel threatened."
Turns out Michael F. Scheuer, famous CIA agent involved in following bin Laden and Al Qaeda and highly quoted after 9/11, is a HUGE Q cultist. Another brilliant mind, poisoned. I'm sure he's also a trumper.
Some years back (2018-19 i think), i used to be a part of small PC gaming community/clan. I used to enjoy on weekend, playing as well as casual talk about cinema, food etc - no politics. I missed it for few months & when i came back, the Admin of community was talking about how mainstream media has lied to us and we should stop believing news. He started praising Trump and how i don't know anything about the world. This community was not even based in North America. It's based in Europe (Romania, Austria etc). I was startled how person on other side of Atlantic can get infected by Trump virus. I never went back to that forum again.
It's like these people have been taken by Body snatchers.
I'd like to add that there is a 2020 documentary out now on YouTube to view for free called UNFIT about Donald Trump being unfit to run for office again. Dr. Gartner who was one of the 1st in 2015-2016 to champion a sincere concern about this and published articles on the subject, is in this documentary. As I recall he started a petition which I signed in 2016 for mental health providers to support this concern. This movie which is done with interviews of various mental health and political experts as well as cartoons, does explain in good detail WHY the Goldwater Rule does not apply.
Dr Lee, new dangers are emerging every day & we need to be forever watchful. Elon Musk is now danger to society and more education & research needed on him. In past he wasn't a threat to society. He was busy with his business ventures (some of them failed badly like with PayPal), electric car business (where he succeeded based on lies & cover ups - like faking mileage of his EVs) and other stuff like wireless internet & indulging with scams of Crypto currencies etc.
Then he got interested in Social media & acquired Twitter which is arguably the largest social media platform in the world. At this point he jumped on my radar of Dangerous man because he gained tremendous power to gaslight the world. His Twitter platform (renamed X) tilted cyberspace significantly towards extreme right wing politics. Musk amplified voices of Trumpers, MAGA, Republicans, Anti-vaxxers, anti-woke, conspiracy theorists, anti-semites, QAnon, stalkers, rapists (like Andrew Tate), criminals and gave platforms to people like Tucker Carlson & Kremlin. At the same time Musk curtailed & suppressed the voices of liberals, scientists, intelligentsia, reputable media, thinkers & legacy users on Social media. Musk also partnered with dictators like Putin, Erdogan, MBS and Modi in shutting down pro Democracy voices in their countries. When Jack Smith subpoenaed Trump's Twitter records - he stalled DoJ.
Musk also started heavily expanding in his Starlink business which is now a monopoly in satellite wireless internet in the world. When Russians were reducing Ukrainian cities to rubble, Ukraine military planned to attack Russian fleet in Black sea, using wireless tech of Starlink. Suddenly their tech failed because Musk shutdown Starlink. Kremlin has openly admired Elon Musk for his "sensibility" just like Kremlin has admired Trump as great American leader. Elon Musk now controls world satellite internet, world largest social media company X and is in bed with foreign dictators.
Musk is also a maniac, a narcissist, and highly impulsive character (a proper psychological profile needed to be established by experts). He runs his businesses on whims, takes impulsive aggressive decisions and doubles down on them. When his big gambles fail, he take bigger gambles, doubled down and often succeeds by bending the rules & manipulating everything to his will. He has inclination towards authoritarian leaders and contempt for progressive American Democracy (as clear from his Tweets he's spewing since many years). Musk is disconnected from objective reality of world (Paul Krugman has interesting take on these Tech billionaires) and like to bend the world to his needs.
Dr Lee, looking forward to your analysis on Elon Musk.
it does seem that trump, elon, murdoch, the maga gop all are acting in an unhinged, threatening mode, "flooding the zone" w/toxic BS. the insurrection is ongoing, destabilization, disinformation, terrorizing the public sphere. ask who does musk really represent, what is his end-game, after corrupting the public commons?
The significant and timely book, edited by Dr Brandy X Lee, of chapters by dozens of psychiatrists and psychologists documents the most serious assessment anyone can make, that of “dangerousness,” needs to be accessed by every democratic concerned citizen. Based on “the duty to warn of dangerousness,” of all mental health professionals, read “The Dangerous Mind of Donald Trump.”
I'm saving this summary to credit Dr. Lee. Her loss of that lawsuit must have been on a minute legal technicality, if anything legal to it at all (which is doubtful). It would be cold comfort to her, but that the ruling could ironically provide powerful evidence of her very point about Trump et al. dangerousness.
Thank you again and again, Dr. Lee. I just shake my head at the willful combination of neglect and opposition by the APA. Dr. Lee has also made the case that the hope for money (Trump government funding) by some establishment psychiatrists was involved--which was eventually fulfilled, based on evidence. Such an explanation can at least help to understand such willfully dangerous behavior though not excuse it at all.
Great article Dr Lee. Silence is complicity. I wish there was a professional movement to boycott the APA. I am one who will do so because they allowed a mentally unstable racist man to engage in stochastic terrorism. This could have been prevented and now is the time to hold the APA accountable. Thanks for speaking up
Dr. Bandy Lee was obviously correct in her warnings about Donald Trump. I bought and read the first edition of the book she edited regarding the dangerousness of Trump. Then a send edition was published. With Trump's continued unhinged behavior and the likelihood of another Presidential run, a third expanded edition would be in order, and I would recommend it be available online as a free pdf for all to read. With this Trump phenomena and its cult, the longer it persists, the more serious harm is done to our country and more more we will need further editions of Dr. Lee's edited book. I suspect psychohistories on Trump and the associated cult will be written for decades to come, and unfortunately, not enough people heeded the warnings of the experts.
I am greatly concerned and distressed by this Dr. Lee.
The preeminent minds in the field of mental illness determined, as early as 2017, that Donald Trump suffers from serious psychological disorders, yet Trump continued to serve in the role of President of the United States. During his term, the world saw repeated evidence of these psychoses you and your colleagues tried in vain to alert us about: his failed coup followed by the theft of national security documents provides substantial evidence that there is something more than a "little wrong" with the man.
So, it disturbs me greatly to see Dr. Tribe--our preeminent Constitutional scholar--agree that we should have been listened to you since 2017: Dr. Tribe's suggestion is that had those in power been able to act, Trump may have been treated or removed from power before those acts took place. Now that Trump is in the legal battle of his life, I am most concerned that he and his attorneys will use your work to avoid a conviction. Trump, in all his mental unfitness, may simply resolve to claim the insanity defense as the primary factor in his behavior.
While your work has been careful to make the rest of us aware of the risks--the dangerousness--of letting him remain in power, is it at all possible that that same work may now be used to keep him out of prison?
Trump may use your words to keep himself from prison, and this would cause further harm to our nation. I can see Trump using any defense to avoid being sentenced, and conclude that this may become his final effort to avoid being sentence.
The only way out of this national nightmare is for Trump to publicly acknowledge his mental illness; to recognize how his actions were the result of his own impairment; and to fully accept responsibility for his actions. His public acknowledgement of this could help to break the fever of the Trump Contagion, shattering the myths Trump’s followers have come to believe. Accepting and acknowledging his acts--albeit rooted in mental illness--could provide him a way out of confinement in prison while still requiring him to step away from public life and enter psychiatric treatment.
Trump is predictable: he will say or do anything to avoid prison. But I’m not sure he would be willing to admit publicly that he is mentally ill, and that is where the legal scholars and the mental health professionals must work in concert: there must be a public acknowledgement by Trump that he did these things. Only by acknowledging publically--to all his followers and the world--that he lied, he directed, and that he committed these acts while suffering from great mental illness--would they be able to let go of their death grip of support. Additionally but not separate from that statement, Trump must agree to leave the life of public service and retire to his home where he will be treated for his mental health issues.
Only then, could the nation begin to heal.
Unfortunately, I am concerned that he will do anything to avoid prison, including using your work to keep him free, while never having to publicly acknowledge his mental unfitness.
considering how terribly the past trump years have scrambled my own mental health, it's nearly impossible to fathom what this group of psycho-trolls taking over our society would do to our collective future. thankfully, netflix & hulu have plenty of content about surviving holocausts for us to take as warnings. the society falls apart pretty fast once the brutalizing, attacks, rounding-up & killings start. remember how quickly the bloodlust broke out at Jan 6th. madness is just par for the course, that course w/the ex-wife's grave & coffin filled w/nuclear secrets. i'd say we've been driven half-way mad by the psycho-contagion already, the media too, hard to argue fox & newsmax aren't totally insane & so far to the right they're actually anti-science, anti-humanity, anti-democracy: "anti-woke". what the actual planet
This statement resonated with me: "Trump Contagion—a kind of shared psychosis, which is commonly observed in settings where severe symptoms go untreated, as known about since the nineteenth century (which I have seen a lot of while working in public-sector settings). "
I know very little about this, but I have been studying up, which brought me to this site. I was alarmed about the big change all around me after we elected Trump and covid struck. We do indeed appear to be struggling ever since with some kind of "mass psychosis". I don't recognize this country anymore.
Here is an example: My closest friend in high school went on to become a renowned electronics engineer: many patents to his name, on boards of major corporations, DARPA. He is a devout Christian. And he became an extreme right winger. Just this morning he forwarded me a screed about 'the government coming to take all our guns way, we have to arm up and prepare to save our nation . . .' What "ate" his brilliant mind?
I am a Democrat and a gun owner. The NRA just sent out a letter implying the government is about to take our guns away. It was a giant rally cry to the disturbed. It's very scary !
It's sad as well as horrifying. As with many things (not to oversimplify), money may have some influence--that is, among a certain combination of people who have a lot of it and very little of it. "Government" can get in the way of their greed and prejudice, and both are irresponsible, to say the least. I have saved a cartoon that shows a guy (likely from the "very little of it") armed to the teeth, surrounded by various pedestrians. Some are dressed as Muslims and Jews, a couple is mixed race and another is two men holding hands, etc. The caption has the armed guy saying, "I feel threatened."
Turns out Michael F. Scheuer, famous CIA agent involved in following bin Laden and Al Qaeda and highly quoted after 9/11, is a HUGE Q cultist. Another brilliant mind, poisoned. I'm sure he's also a trumper.
So very, very sad!
Some years back (2018-19 i think), i used to be a part of small PC gaming community/clan. I used to enjoy on weekend, playing as well as casual talk about cinema, food etc - no politics. I missed it for few months & when i came back, the Admin of community was talking about how mainstream media has lied to us and we should stop believing news. He started praising Trump and how i don't know anything about the world. This community was not even based in North America. It's based in Europe (Romania, Austria etc). I was startled how person on other side of Atlantic can get infected by Trump virus. I never went back to that forum again.
It's like these people have been taken by Body snatchers.
I'd like to add that there is a 2020 documentary out now on YouTube to view for free called UNFIT about Donald Trump being unfit to run for office again. Dr. Gartner who was one of the 1st in 2015-2016 to champion a sincere concern about this and published articles on the subject, is in this documentary. As I recall he started a petition which I signed in 2016 for mental health providers to support this concern. This movie which is done with interviews of various mental health and political experts as well as cartoons, does explain in good detail WHY the Goldwater Rule does not apply.
Dr Lee, new dangers are emerging every day & we need to be forever watchful. Elon Musk is now danger to society and more education & research needed on him. In past he wasn't a threat to society. He was busy with his business ventures (some of them failed badly like with PayPal), electric car business (where he succeeded based on lies & cover ups - like faking mileage of his EVs) and other stuff like wireless internet & indulging with scams of Crypto currencies etc.
Then he got interested in Social media & acquired Twitter which is arguably the largest social media platform in the world. At this point he jumped on my radar of Dangerous man because he gained tremendous power to gaslight the world. His Twitter platform (renamed X) tilted cyberspace significantly towards extreme right wing politics. Musk amplified voices of Trumpers, MAGA, Republicans, Anti-vaxxers, anti-woke, conspiracy theorists, anti-semites, QAnon, stalkers, rapists (like Andrew Tate), criminals and gave platforms to people like Tucker Carlson & Kremlin. At the same time Musk curtailed & suppressed the voices of liberals, scientists, intelligentsia, reputable media, thinkers & legacy users on Social media. Musk also partnered with dictators like Putin, Erdogan, MBS and Modi in shutting down pro Democracy voices in their countries. When Jack Smith subpoenaed Trump's Twitter records - he stalled DoJ.
Musk also started heavily expanding in his Starlink business which is now a monopoly in satellite wireless internet in the world. When Russians were reducing Ukrainian cities to rubble, Ukraine military planned to attack Russian fleet in Black sea, using wireless tech of Starlink. Suddenly their tech failed because Musk shutdown Starlink. Kremlin has openly admired Elon Musk for his "sensibility" just like Kremlin has admired Trump as great American leader. Elon Musk now controls world satellite internet, world largest social media company X and is in bed with foreign dictators.
Musk is also a maniac, a narcissist, and highly impulsive character (a proper psychological profile needed to be established by experts). He runs his businesses on whims, takes impulsive aggressive decisions and doubles down on them. When his big gambles fail, he take bigger gambles, doubled down and often succeeds by bending the rules & manipulating everything to his will. He has inclination towards authoritarian leaders and contempt for progressive American Democracy (as clear from his Tweets he's spewing since many years). Musk is disconnected from objective reality of world (Paul Krugman has interesting take on these Tech billionaires) and like to bend the world to his needs.
Dr Lee, looking forward to your analysis on Elon Musk.
it does seem that trump, elon, murdoch, the maga gop all are acting in an unhinged, threatening mode, "flooding the zone" w/toxic BS. the insurrection is ongoing, destabilization, disinformation, terrorizing the public sphere. ask who does musk really represent, what is his end-game, after corrupting the public commons?
The significant and timely book, edited by Dr Brandy X Lee, of chapters by dozens of psychiatrists and psychologists documents the most serious assessment anyone can make, that of “dangerousness,” needs to be accessed by every democratic concerned citizen. Based on “the duty to warn of dangerousness,” of all mental health professionals, read “The Dangerous Mind of Donald Trump.”
I'm saving this summary to credit Dr. Lee. Her loss of that lawsuit must have been on a minute legal technicality, if anything legal to it at all (which is doubtful). It would be cold comfort to her, but that the ruling could ironically provide powerful evidence of her very point about Trump et al. dangerousness.
Thank you again and again, Dr. Lee. I just shake my head at the willful combination of neglect and opposition by the APA. Dr. Lee has also made the case that the hope for money (Trump government funding) by some establishment psychiatrists was involved--which was eventually fulfilled, based on evidence. Such an explanation can at least help to understand such willfully dangerous behavior though not excuse it at all.
Great article Dr Lee. Silence is complicity. I wish there was a professional movement to boycott the APA. I am one who will do so because they allowed a mentally unstable racist man to engage in stochastic terrorism. This could have been prevented and now is the time to hold the APA accountable. Thanks for speaking up
Dr. Bandy Lee was obviously correct in her warnings about Donald Trump. I bought and read the first edition of the book she edited regarding the dangerousness of Trump. Then a send edition was published. With Trump's continued unhinged behavior and the likelihood of another Presidential run, a third expanded edition would be in order, and I would recommend it be available online as a free pdf for all to read. With this Trump phenomena and its cult, the longer it persists, the more serious harm is done to our country and more more we will need further editions of Dr. Lee's edited book. I suspect psychohistories on Trump and the associated cult will be written for decades to come, and unfortunately, not enough people heeded the warnings of the experts.
I am greatly concerned and distressed by this Dr. Lee.
The preeminent minds in the field of mental illness determined, as early as 2017, that Donald Trump suffers from serious psychological disorders, yet Trump continued to serve in the role of President of the United States. During his term, the world saw repeated evidence of these psychoses you and your colleagues tried in vain to alert us about: his failed coup followed by the theft of national security documents provides substantial evidence that there is something more than a "little wrong" with the man.
So, it disturbs me greatly to see Dr. Tribe--our preeminent Constitutional scholar--agree that we should have been listened to you since 2017: Dr. Tribe's suggestion is that had those in power been able to act, Trump may have been treated or removed from power before those acts took place. Now that Trump is in the legal battle of his life, I am most concerned that he and his attorneys will use your work to avoid a conviction. Trump, in all his mental unfitness, may simply resolve to claim the insanity defense as the primary factor in his behavior.
While your work has been careful to make the rest of us aware of the risks--the dangerousness--of letting him remain in power, is it at all possible that that same work may now be used to keep him out of prison?
Trump may use your words to keep himself from prison, and this would cause further harm to our nation. I can see Trump using any defense to avoid being sentenced, and conclude that this may become his final effort to avoid being sentence.
The only way out of this national nightmare is for Trump to publicly acknowledge his mental illness; to recognize how his actions were the result of his own impairment; and to fully accept responsibility for his actions. His public acknowledgement of this could help to break the fever of the Trump Contagion, shattering the myths Trump’s followers have come to believe. Accepting and acknowledging his acts--albeit rooted in mental illness--could provide him a way out of confinement in prison while still requiring him to step away from public life and enter psychiatric treatment.
Trump is predictable: he will say or do anything to avoid prison. But I’m not sure he would be willing to admit publicly that he is mentally ill, and that is where the legal scholars and the mental health professionals must work in concert: there must be a public acknowledgement by Trump that he did these things. Only by acknowledging publically--to all his followers and the world--that he lied, he directed, and that he committed these acts while suffering from great mental illness--would they be able to let go of their death grip of support. Additionally but not separate from that statement, Trump must agree to leave the life of public service and retire to his home where he will be treated for his mental health issues.
Only then, could the nation begin to heal.
Unfortunately, I am concerned that he will do anything to avoid prison, including using your work to keep him free, while never having to publicly acknowledge his mental unfitness.
If only. Think of all lives that could have been saved. It’s criminal; if it isn’t, it should be.
considering how terribly the past trump years have scrambled my own mental health, it's nearly impossible to fathom what this group of psycho-trolls taking over our society would do to our collective future. thankfully, netflix & hulu have plenty of content about surviving holocausts for us to take as warnings. the society falls apart pretty fast once the brutalizing, attacks, rounding-up & killings start. remember how quickly the bloodlust broke out at Jan 6th. madness is just par for the course, that course w/the ex-wife's grave & coffin filled w/nuclear secrets. i'd say we've been driven half-way mad by the psycho-contagion already, the media too, hard to argue fox & newsmax aren't totally insane & so far to the right they're actually anti-science, anti-humanity, anti-democracy: "anti-woke". what the actual planet