You just explained something that I have been struggling to understand, something around here in my small midwestern town. I interact with a lot of the same people, as one might expect. Almost all are, or were, pleasant, friendly, upbeat. Until maybe six months or maybe a year ago.
But now most are grouchy, sullen, angry. Is it me?, I wondered. If not, then what? I finally settled on this tentative explanation, though it seemed at the time bizarre: My fellow citizens are rural midwestern farmers, shopkeepers, professionals. And they are overwhelmingly Republican. Their former President, Donald Trump, is in deep legal trouble and his epithets are now darker and more violent. Though they probably voted for Trump, until recently they had not picked up his vibe until he became so unhinged. I think your explanation today validates my theory. Thank you.
Yes. This is a terrible situation of people having boxed themselves into a corner or caught in their own traps. It takes a LOT of soul-searching and courage to stop for a moment and think again about some things. Maybe many of those people hadn't ever had that ability, so that's how they got stuck in the first place. Terrible. I think it's still important to keep patient and compassionate, while it's also important to be determined about them. I've just told some of them, in as sincere a way as possible, that I hoped that they would never ever have someone like Trump cross their paths in their personal lives.
You are spot on. 'Conversive thinking' is the technique described by psychologist Andrzej Lobabczewski to twist reality to fit the facts - it means converting the outcome of the reasoning process to a more convenient outcome, for example by subconsciously cherry-picking what data to believe. Conversive thinking is an attempt to stop 'disintegration' of the personality, as described by psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski in his 'Theory of Positive Disintegration'. Disintegration happens when we are forced to face up to unpleasant or painful truths, or finally listen to our conscience. Disintegration is painful and costly, and should be followed by a rebuilding where we look at the world in a new way. Most people only go through the process at a minor level. Dabrowski reckoned that only about a third of people were capable of deep, fundamental change brought about by disintegration.
Pathological individuals, like Trump, base their lives on conversive thinking which is highly contagious. They are completely unable to go through any process of disintegration.
I always appreciate reading and hearing your views as a mental health expert. Music, especially playing music, is an essential part of my life. Yesterday I practiced jazz songs I had never really played before. I use a lot of my physical, mental, and emotional faculties to play. The same with hiking or other exercise. Cooking as well. Last night I saw a small skunk quickly toddling away after I opened the back door. Why watch television when there is nature?
Thank you so much for this excellent explanation and reminder that previously balanced people can become infected by this psychic virus... My husband and I will take heed of your cautions and also continue our weekly day trips to the woods... You have been a guiding light for me since 2017 when I found your book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump on the new nonfiction table at the local library...I feel most fortunate and very grateful. May you continue to be guided, blessed and protected.
Dr. Lee, you are a light in the darkness, shining on the cloud of pathology that has descended on our world. I want to share your thoughts with the world and help people wake from the psychosis.
It’s very scary to read this yet I can feel it. You can feel the contagiousness of cruelty. The police officer caught laughing about the death of a 26 year old woman terrified and disgusted me this week. I’m not sure we will get through this when there are so many people who are lost and devoid of empathy and soul
That's why FOX and outlets that spew exaggerations and outright falsehoods are dangerous to democracy and not an example of free speech. It's one thing when one is alone in their home but when speaking to masses of people, the public needs to be protected by a different standard.
Reading uplifting thoughts also. Scriptural passages that advocate good qualities and behaviors, and promote a positive attitude and faith in a better future, are very helpful. Music that calms and inspires (ie, NOT thrash metal) is good. I recently discovered Ludovico Einaudi on YouTube, that’s a good example. Long bike rides in the countryside.
Hundreds of Hindus broke into house of poor Muslim man & kills him on the spot. They suspected that he ate beef which Hindus claim to be their mother (Akhlaq killing). Such episodes of public lynching of Muslim men by Hindu militias (Cow Vigilantes) is common in India.
Hindu mobs vandalize & burn Churches, beat up priests because they suspect that Christian missionaries are converting Hindus into Muslims. Regular affair in India.
Mass Psychosis on grand scale - Hundreds of thousands of Hindus came to streets and participated in nationwide pogroms in 1990-91 killing Muslims and Demolishing mosque because they believed that a Hindu Demigod (Ram) birth place is under the mosque (Babri demolition) & needs to be liberated
Gujarat Massacres (2002) - Lead by hardcore militants, Hindus go on rampage against Muslim minorities in Gujarat. Mass rape orgies, lynchings, looting and arson committed in State of Gujarat. All on orders of Modi who was chief minister of state at that time.
Religious riots and massacres are the epitome of mass psychosis. This is award winning Documentary - In the name of god.
Sanjeev, this is horrible! I didn't know about this at all and it's terrifying what a mob mentality can cause people to do. As with a viral pandemic we need to "vaccinate" against just doing what your neighbor is doing or thinking like your neighbor is thinking. Somehow we need to promote the meme: DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK. Reflecting before you act is a virtue...
We are surprised by about things we don't know and then there are much more things we don't know that we don't know. Knowledge is power. One should always keep expanding their pool of information and intellect.
Answer is simple really. There's nothing you can do to reduce scapegoating & violent behavior of one violent, irrational and delusional group towards other. The solution is that society should never be allowed to get polarized to such extent to begin with. After such polarization occurs, after other-fication of group occurs, there's nothing can be done. The weaker segments of society are most vulnerable and fall prey when the violence inevitably materializes. Society should not be allowed to reach this stage. You need law & order, public accountability, healthy political system, healthy social discourse etc to keep society civilized.
There are countless horror stories in India from religious massacres. You will be surprised by things that you don't know. Just another small story from India. A Muslim Women names Bilkis Bano & her family members were captured by Hindu militias during Gujarat massacres of 2002. She was 5 months pregnant at that time. Her family members were murdered in front of her, she was raped by two dozen men & left for dead. She miraculously survived though she lost unborn child and suffered significant injuries. Till this day, she's fighting in Indian justice system against her rapists.
Who organized Gujarat religious massacres? A Trumpian Indian politician, a mass murderer, organized these massacres to become chief minister of state of Gujarat (a western region of India) by scapegoating Muslims. This politician was sanctioned by western Govts (starting in 2004-05) including by US State Department & Europe. He was not allowed entry in United states for 8 years. But then he won national elections by capitalizing on his Fascistic politics, he became Prime minister of India - He's Narendra Modi. US quietly revoked sanctions against him. Yes, it's the same Indian PM Modi that has given a speech in US Congress with full state honors few weeks ago at Capital Hill. All US Congress members (except dissenting members like Jamaal Bowmann, Cory Bush etc who boycotted his address) including Democrats and VEEP Kamala Harris gave standing ovation and cheers to this mass murderer.
Thank you for this information, as horrifying and nauseating as it is. Is it possible that our own heads of state don't know this history about him?
It's chilling and it angers me that "...the US quietly revoked sanctions against him." We all have to stand up to sociopaths no matter how much political power they've managed to steal.
I am shocked and disappointed by Biden and Harris in this matter.
I will look into what's happened to the woman, Bilkis Bano, who somehow survived, physically. This is devastating information but so important to know. 💔
Beautiful--certainly "hearted." I especially appreciate this one, as I see within it a balancing of perspective about the dangers involved in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I realize the danger of nuclear holocaust, while I can't help thinking that some people like Trump and Putin must be stopped in some very careful but determined way.
What we're actually witnessing is TWO separate phenomena - national hysteria, and pathological induction.
The USA is at the nadir of a 'secular cycle' (one hundred year cycle), as repeatedly warned about by Dr. Peter Turchin. Andrzej Lobabczewski looked at the same cycles through the eyes of a clinical psychologist and saw them as cycles of national hysteria. Hysterical people lose the ability to distinguish pathological from non-pathological people.
At the same time there's what Lobabczewski describes as 'pathological induction' and you as a 'Trump contagion'. A potent mix.
'The author studied an entire generation of older, educated, people wherein the source of such influence was the eldest sister who suffered perinatal damage of the frontal centers. From early childhood, her four younger brothers were exposed to and assimilated pathologically altered psychological material, including their sister's growing component of hysteria. They retained well into their sixties the deformities of personality and world view, as well as the hysterical features thus caused, whose intensity diminished in proportion to the greater difference in age.
...the source of pathological induction was the eldest sister with perinatal damage of the prefrontal fields of her brain cortex. Even when she obviously abused her youngest child, her brothers attempted to interpret this in a paramoralistic manner, a sacrifice in the name of "family honor".'
One of the most underrated articles I’ve encountered in my relatively brief sojourn into substack! Thanks for explaining the phenomenon of physic contagion so clearly that anyone who can read English should be able to easily understand it. Unfortunately, even if people suffering from the contagion spread by Donald Trump and his band of merry election deniers were to read this article, they’d still not see the truth of it. Admittedly, I say this with a degree of the anxiousness and exhaustion you mention at the end of your article. Time to take a brief interlude of peaceful introspection and gratitude for all of the beauty still found in our world.
You really hit the nail squarely, the trick is going to be to counter the enormous funding, political and media saturation that is continually trying to further this self serving pathology. Here are two papers that add credence to your comments. Education is the only path I see out of our situation, let's hope we're not too late.
Character Disorders among Autocratic World Leaders and the Impact on Health Security, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Care by Frederick Burkle
Dimensions of pathological narcissism and intention to vote for Donald Trump
You just explained something that I have been struggling to understand, something around here in my small midwestern town. I interact with a lot of the same people, as one might expect. Almost all are, or were, pleasant, friendly, upbeat. Until maybe six months or maybe a year ago.
But now most are grouchy, sullen, angry. Is it me?, I wondered. If not, then what? I finally settled on this tentative explanation, though it seemed at the time bizarre: My fellow citizens are rural midwestern farmers, shopkeepers, professionals. And they are overwhelmingly Republican. Their former President, Donald Trump, is in deep legal trouble and his epithets are now darker and more violent. Though they probably voted for Trump, until recently they had not picked up his vibe until he became so unhinged. I think your explanation today validates my theory. Thank you.
Yes. This is a terrible situation of people having boxed themselves into a corner or caught in their own traps. It takes a LOT of soul-searching and courage to stop for a moment and think again about some things. Maybe many of those people hadn't ever had that ability, so that's how they got stuck in the first place. Terrible. I think it's still important to keep patient and compassionate, while it's also important to be determined about them. I've just told some of them, in as sincere a way as possible, that I hoped that they would never ever have someone like Trump cross their paths in their personal lives.
You are spot on. 'Conversive thinking' is the technique described by psychologist Andrzej Lobabczewski to twist reality to fit the facts - it means converting the outcome of the reasoning process to a more convenient outcome, for example by subconsciously cherry-picking what data to believe. Conversive thinking is an attempt to stop 'disintegration' of the personality, as described by psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski in his 'Theory of Positive Disintegration'. Disintegration happens when we are forced to face up to unpleasant or painful truths, or finally listen to our conscience. Disintegration is painful and costly, and should be followed by a rebuilding where we look at the world in a new way. Most people only go through the process at a minor level. Dabrowski reckoned that only about a third of people were capable of deep, fundamental change brought about by disintegration.
Pathological individuals, like Trump, base their lives on conversive thinking which is highly contagious. They are completely unable to go through any process of disintegration.
It fits, I think. I am on unfamiliar ground here.
I always appreciate reading and hearing your views as a mental health expert. Music, especially playing music, is an essential part of my life. Yesterday I practiced jazz songs I had never really played before. I use a lot of my physical, mental, and emotional faculties to play. The same with hiking or other exercise. Cooking as well. Last night I saw a small skunk quickly toddling away after I opened the back door. Why watch television when there is nature?
Thank you so much for this excellent explanation and reminder that previously balanced people can become infected by this psychic virus... My husband and I will take heed of your cautions and also continue our weekly day trips to the woods... You have been a guiding light for me since 2017 when I found your book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump on the new nonfiction table at the local library...I feel most fortunate and very grateful. May you continue to be guided, blessed and protected.
Fox News: Psychic Contagion.
Dr. Lee, you are a light in the darkness, shining on the cloud of pathology that has descended on our world. I want to share your thoughts with the world and help people wake from the psychosis.
It’s very scary to read this yet I can feel it. You can feel the contagiousness of cruelty. The police officer caught laughing about the death of a 26 year old woman terrified and disgusted me this week. I’m not sure we will get through this when there are so many people who are lost and devoid of empathy and soul
Fox News: Psychic Contagion.
That's why FOX and outlets that spew exaggerations and outright falsehoods are dangerous to democracy and not an example of free speech. It's one thing when one is alone in their home but when speaking to masses of people, the public needs to be protected by a different standard.
Reading uplifting thoughts also. Scriptural passages that advocate good qualities and behaviors, and promote a positive attitude and faith in a better future, are very helpful. Music that calms and inspires (ie, NOT thrash metal) is good. I recently discovered Ludovico Einaudi on YouTube, that’s a good example. Long bike rides in the countryside.
Shared Psychosis in India -
Hundreds of Hindus broke into house of poor Muslim man & kills him on the spot. They suspected that he ate beef which Hindus claim to be their mother (Akhlaq killing). Such episodes of public lynching of Muslim men by Hindu militias (Cow Vigilantes) is common in India.
Hindu mobs vandalize & burn Churches, beat up priests because they suspect that Christian missionaries are converting Hindus into Muslims. Regular affair in India.
Mass Psychosis on grand scale - Hundreds of thousands of Hindus came to streets and participated in nationwide pogroms in 1990-91 killing Muslims and Demolishing mosque because they believed that a Hindu Demigod (Ram) birth place is under the mosque (Babri demolition) & needs to be liberated
Gujarat Massacres (2002) - Lead by hardcore militants, Hindus go on rampage against Muslim minorities in Gujarat. Mass rape orgies, lynchings, looting and arson committed in State of Gujarat. All on orders of Modi who was chief minister of state at that time.
Religious riots and massacres are the epitome of mass psychosis. This is award winning Documentary - In the name of god.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMT18TMNQbY&ab_channel=KunalKamra
Sanjeev, this is horrible! I didn't know about this at all and it's terrifying what a mob mentality can cause people to do. As with a viral pandemic we need to "vaccinate" against just doing what your neighbor is doing or thinking like your neighbor is thinking. Somehow we need to promote the meme: DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK. Reflecting before you act is a virtue...
We are surprised by about things we don't know and then there are much more things we don't know that we don't know. Knowledge is power. One should always keep expanding their pool of information and intellect.
I totally agree.
The next question is, what can be done to reduce scapegoating and violent behavior towards women and members of "the other" group?
Answer is simple really. There's nothing you can do to reduce scapegoating & violent behavior of one violent, irrational and delusional group towards other. The solution is that society should never be allowed to get polarized to such extent to begin with. After such polarization occurs, after other-fication of group occurs, there's nothing can be done. The weaker segments of society are most vulnerable and fall prey when the violence inevitably materializes. Society should not be allowed to reach this stage. You need law & order, public accountability, healthy political system, healthy social discourse etc to keep society civilized.
There are countless horror stories in India from religious massacres. You will be surprised by things that you don't know. Just another small story from India. A Muslim Women names Bilkis Bano & her family members were captured by Hindu militias during Gujarat massacres of 2002. She was 5 months pregnant at that time. Her family members were murdered in front of her, she was raped by two dozen men & left for dead. She miraculously survived though she lost unborn child and suffered significant injuries. Till this day, she's fighting in Indian justice system against her rapists.
Who organized Gujarat religious massacres? A Trumpian Indian politician, a mass murderer, organized these massacres to become chief minister of state of Gujarat (a western region of India) by scapegoating Muslims. This politician was sanctioned by western Govts (starting in 2004-05) including by US State Department & Europe. He was not allowed entry in United states for 8 years. But then he won national elections by capitalizing on his Fascistic politics, he became Prime minister of India - He's Narendra Modi. US quietly revoked sanctions against him. Yes, it's the same Indian PM Modi that has given a speech in US Congress with full state honors few weeks ago at Capital Hill. All US Congress members (except dissenting members like Jamaal Bowmann, Cory Bush etc who boycotted his address) including Democrats and VEEP Kamala Harris gave standing ovation and cheers to this mass murderer.
OMG...Modi. 😡
Thank you for this information, as horrifying and nauseating as it is. Is it possible that our own heads of state don't know this history about him?
It's chilling and it angers me that "...the US quietly revoked sanctions against him." We all have to stand up to sociopaths no matter how much political power they've managed to steal.
I am shocked and disappointed by Biden and Harris in this matter.
I will look into what's happened to the woman, Bilkis Bano, who somehow survived, physically. This is devastating information but so important to know. 💔
Beautiful--certainly "hearted." I especially appreciate this one, as I see within it a balancing of perspective about the dangers involved in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I realize the danger of nuclear holocaust, while I can't help thinking that some people like Trump and Putin must be stopped in some very careful but determined way.
What we're actually witnessing is TWO separate phenomena - national hysteria, and pathological induction.
The USA is at the nadir of a 'secular cycle' (one hundred year cycle), as repeatedly warned about by Dr. Peter Turchin. Andrzej Lobabczewski looked at the same cycles through the eyes of a clinical psychologist and saw them as cycles of national hysteria. Hysterical people lose the ability to distinguish pathological from non-pathological people.
At the same time there's what Lobabczewski describes as 'pathological induction' and you as a 'Trump contagion'. A potent mix.
'The author studied an entire generation of older, educated, people wherein the source of such influence was the eldest sister who suffered perinatal damage of the frontal centers. From early childhood, her four younger brothers were exposed to and assimilated pathologically altered psychological material, including their sister's growing component of hysteria. They retained well into their sixties the deformities of personality and world view, as well as the hysterical features thus caused, whose intensity diminished in proportion to the greater difference in age.
...the source of pathological induction was the eldest sister with perinatal damage of the prefrontal fields of her brain cortex. Even when she obviously abused her youngest child, her brothers attempted to interpret this in a paramoralistic manner, a sacrifice in the name of "family honor".'
'Political Ponerology', Andrzej Lobabczewski
thank you for the concrete action recommendations.
One of the most underrated articles I’ve encountered in my relatively brief sojourn into substack! Thanks for explaining the phenomenon of physic contagion so clearly that anyone who can read English should be able to easily understand it. Unfortunately, even if people suffering from the contagion spread by Donald Trump and his band of merry election deniers were to read this article, they’d still not see the truth of it. Admittedly, I say this with a degree of the anxiousness and exhaustion you mention at the end of your article. Time to take a brief interlude of peaceful introspection and gratitude for all of the beauty still found in our world.
You really hit the nail squarely, the trick is going to be to counter the enormous funding, political and media saturation that is continually trying to further this self serving pathology. Here are two papers that add credence to your comments. Education is the only path I see out of our situation, let's hope we're not too late.
Character Disorders among Autocratic World Leaders and the Impact on Health Security, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Care by Frederick Burkle
Dimensions of pathological narcissism and intention to vote for Donald Trump
Matthew M. Yalch,
Thank you Dr. Lee. Your posts are so helpful.
So true! Thank you Dr. Lee. Please keep informing us like you are in these posts. They are so helpful.