Zoom Link: ‘Reflections on the Election and Beyond’

Live Session Today at 12 noon EDT / 9 a.m. PDT

We are about to enter some challenging times in America.

One of the reasons I went into the mountains to pray during these last couple weeks is because, to be honest, the direction of the election was clear.  I have become a barometer of sorts: when the Weekend Show ended its weekly run with me; when our major National Press Club conference received little attention including by George Conway; when my Joy Reid show appearance was canceled and never rescheduled; when even Mehdi Hasan, who championed us in the past, went with Mary Trump rather than real experts; and when the most massive efforts we have ever expended through a public relations firm yielded not a single significant interview (the ones that appeared were my prior contacts)—the handwriting seemed on the wall.

Even after all the devastations the nation had endured—including over a million American Covid-19 deaths, political violence as we have never seen in our lifetimes, and the existential crisis of our democracy—and despite the accuracy of all our predictions—sometimes down to the month or day of Donald Trump’s actions, and more broadly the breadth and depth of his global reach—politicians, prosecutors, and the press to the end never consulted with us.

Even those who vigorously tried to break the barrier were unsuccessful.  Here is what one reporter of a major magazine said:

Unfortunately, after dozens of hours of interviews and research, none of the places I pitched would take the article.  The APA did a lot of damage, apparently.  But I can now, to a smaller degree, empathize with your experience.  I appreciate all the time you and the others gave to me—if it’s any consolation, I learned a lot and found so much explanatory power in your assessments….  Thank you again.

Several weeks earlier, a reporter of one of the biggest newspapers in Germany had asked: “What does Harris have to do in the last days to stop Trump from returning to the White House?”  Here was my answer (it never got published):

Kamala Harris needs now to consult with mental health experts.  Her pointing out Donald Trump’s mental defects is good, but merely saying so does not have credibility.  Mental health labels are not mere insults but indicate real, sometimes serious conditions that require the application of standardized evaluation methods and neutral medical management principles.  She needs to couple her words with a momentum of action in this direction, not as a political strategy but as a serious means of protecting the country the way one should.  The severity of Trump’s signs has required specialists since a long time ago, and reversing this trend of treating him as a normal political candidate will be as refreshing as her candidacy, showing real leadership.

It was a tall order to start, and I would not enter into a discussion about what the Harris campaign could or could not have done.  Would we ask, What did Adolf Hitler’s opposition do wrong?  Would we ask, What did Benito Mussolini‘s opposition do wrong?  The far-progressed mental health pandemic is already insurmountable for anyone to handle.

As Albert Einstein said: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

I warned of this result when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) aggressively launched its campaign to black out all mental health experts from the media, at the height of our influence—resulting in a more sweeping silence than even during the times of greatest stigmatization of mental illness. All subsequent calamities are attributable to this act.

As a consequence, this will be the first American presidential election that has gone the way it has purely for mental health reasons.  The U.S. could have continued to unfold a golden age of human rights, but it instead succumbed to greed, human frailty, and temptation.  In the end, through compromise and cowardice, it will have given up human rights, dignity, and prosperity.

But it does not have to stay this way.  Tragedies can sometimes become a powerful catalyst for seeking that which is beyond, including beyond the “thinking we used when we created [the problems].”  Therefore, this may be a perfect time to pause.

The advice I have always given to medical or law students as they go into “battle” with disease or in defense of their clients is: “In an emergency, first check your own pulse.”  It follows the dicta: “Physician, heal thyself,” and “Know thyself.”  These same imperatives apply to societal crises.  In other words, in order to achieve greater outward power to meet the moment, citizens should, seemingly paradoxically, first tune into themselves and meet their own needs.  This involves making sure one is getting enough sleep, eating healthy meals, connecting with friends and family, and balancing personal time with following outward events.

Seeking and cultivating what is beyond the present moment and ourselves, we develop the potential to return with greater creativity and force.  Then we will learn that, no matter how terrible the moment, nothing is forever.  Only the eternal in us is.

Announcement:

Dr. Bandy X. Lee is inviting you to a live session in a series:

Time: Nov 7, 2024 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89359502918?pwd=koC4BbJzWwtCueeFedPTHblhnVFJFG.1

Meeting ID: 893 5950 2918

Passcode: 581174

Dr. Lee is a forensic and social psychiatrist and an expert on violence who became known to the public with her 2017 book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.  During this crucial election season, she organized a major National Press Club Conference on the theme of, “The More Dangerous State of the World and the Need for Fit Leadership”—of which the summary video is here.  We have also successfully published, The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 40 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Warn Anew. Dr. Bandy Lee’s website on this topic is here. Matthew Bywater’s interview of Dr. Bandy Lee is here. Please keep in mind our two critical Statements, for, as our conference revealed, we will need to navigate another dangerously unfit presidency in this very dangerous world!