In a column for USA Today, a psychiatrist affiliated with Weill Cornell Medical Center claimed that, based upon Donald Trump's recent actions since losing the election to former Vice President Joe Biden, it appears that the president might be experiencing symptoms of "hypomania" which could cause a break with reality.
Writing in partnership with Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, Dr. Kenneth Paul Rosenberg claimed that it appears to him that the country may be endangered by the president's current state of mind.
First stating, "One of us is a psychiatrist, the other a political scientist. We have watched the fiasco since the election with mounting trepidation, from two very different perspectives. But we have a common bond: For more than a decade, each of us has worked to advocate for people with serious mental illness to get treatment. We are coming together now to advocate for immediate intervention for our president," Rosenberg said there is a major debate in the psychiatric community about diagnosing patients from afar, but that the president's recent actions need to be noted.
According to the psychiatrist, he's not surprised that the president is reacting poorly to his election defeat by demanding members of his administration be fired, pushing conspiracy theories and tweeting late into the night, but that president seems to have gone over the edge as of late.
"Many say that Trump's refusal to agree to a peaceful and orderly concession is just a threat from a selfish man who can’t accept defeat. President-elect Biden calls Trump’s failure to concede an 'embarrassment.' It is worse. When someone says they are planning their suicide, mental health professionals don’t call it a 'cry for attention.' They hospitalize them immediately to prevent harm. When someone threatens homicide, violence or child abuse, we act swiftly to protect potential victims. It is naïve to consider the current acts of President Trump as childish tantrums and nothing more than fodder for late night comedians," the op-ed states.
Of course to Rosenberg is the fact that the president seems to be suffering from "hypomania" -- described by Harvard Health as: "... three of the following symptoms for at least four days: inflated self-esteem or grandiosity; decreased need for sleep; increased talkativeness; racing thoughts or ideas; marked distractibility; agitation or increased activity; excessive participation in activities that are pleasurable but invite personal or fiscal harm (shopping sprees, sexual indiscretions, impulsive business investments, and the like). For mania, the symptoms are mostly the same, except they last at least one week, lead to hospitalization, or include psychotic symptoms (a break with reality)."
According to Rosenberg, "To any first-year psychiatric resident, Trump’s sleepless nights filled with ranting tweets suggest irrational exuberance and lack of control, possibly a sign of a mood disorder called hypomania. His life-long history of disregard for others and deceit, if correct as reported, are characteristic of a personality disorder on the narcissistic and even sociopathic spectrum," before adding, "President Trump’s particular history and actions create a high index of suspicion for destructive mental processes which are putting the country and its safety and security in jeopardy."
The op-ed concluded with the authors saying it was their hope the Republican leadership step in immediately and put "constraints on Trump to stop destructive acts," adding, "... it should be clear that these are not normal nor acceptable actions by an American president."
You can read the whole piece here.
