Letter to Reps and Senators

The Therapist's Dilemma — A Thought Experiment To Hold One's Tongue (The Goldwater Rule) or to warn, report and prevent — when possible —  damage to others (Tarasoff Rule). The careful skills necessary to balance these is hard to find.  But consider the following analogy.

Imagine some Mr. T. with a certain set of psychic characteristics arrives in my Psychology/Psychoanalysis office, carrying an AR-15 and speaking of not understanding why it shouldn't be used, when necessary (a telling platitude). He's been sent to determine whether he's fit to teach in school or be an executive, to drive a bus or police the streets, to join the Marines or be President of the USA. I notice 6 characteristics and wonder, thereafter … Do I disarm? Do I ignore? Do I report for others to intervene. T won't submit to Psychological Testing but he agrees to talk and I to listen:

1. T. shows no evidence of understanding in an emotionally empathic way how another feels. In fact, he openly depreciates others. He verbally runs over others and humiliates them in public. He gleefully reports grabbing women and seducing married ones. He says "I'm only getting even. They deserved it and, hey, I won, didn't I?" 

1. He thinks in Blacks-and-Whites but, beyond the typical in disturbed individuals, he splits the World into those who are with-him (whom he praises) and those who are agin-him (whom he seeks to destroy). He seems incapable of bigotry, except a pragmatic form of bigotry in which he is willing to deprecate anyone who disagrees with him. To be bigoted or racist or sexist, one must feel allegiance to a group; he appears to have no such obvious allegiances.

1. Mr. T. shows no ability to reflect on his impulses before acting … in person or on-line and offers illogical/off-point answers to straightforward queries. He appears easily overwhelmed by emotions — has rapidly changing moods. 

1. T. openly talks of a willingness to destroy longstanding organizational or governmental or union structures. He knows better than the experts in fields in which he has no experience and has a coinciding disinterest in learning from others.  Mr. T. and he, alone, knows how to Fix the Problem; and anyone else's interventions are of no apparent value. I was admittedly surprised to hear: "I am the only one who can do it" … especially as he's never done it, before.

1. He demonstrated an inability to see more than one "not unreasonable" view. In the same meeting, his views flipped on important matters and what made any new attitude acceptable was a "my will be done" syndrome .... "it is important because I said it."  He shows an inability to separate symbol from word and word from action … a characteristic dangerous for one in possession of a pee-shooter, never mind powerful weaponry. 

1. Till the end of our meeting, T continued to display an incapacity to distinguish the real from the wished for/imagined or, else, a willingness to present distortions of the truth from truth. It didn't matter what story he was telling, my asking for corroboration was met with: "I have my very reliable sources." I had no way to determine whether he was a visionary, a pathological liar or a pragmatic liar (lying to get/keep the job, while ignoring others' well-being).

Thus, speaking as one trained to observe human behavior and recognizing that I cannot offer a definitive diagnosis except "almost certainly unfit to carry a weapon or to leave my office with such a weapon,"  does it seem farfetched to ask the VP, Cabinet and Houses of the Legislature to act on their mandate to protect (for it can be no less than that assigned to the Executive Branch) and to remove the President under our 25th Amendment or, else, to require him to submit to Psych Evaluation. 

Note: Whether President Trump is suffering from Pathological/Malignant Narcissism, Delusional Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder or some Hypomanic combination of two or more of these or something else, entirely, is a concern for treatment but not for his fitness to serve as guardian of safety in a dangerous World. 

Elected Officials: Do your job!

Howard Covitz, Psychoanalyst, Psychologist … PA