Skeptic
15th June 2004, 07:40
From Capitol Hill Blue
Bush Leagues
Prominent DC Shrink Diagnoses Bush to be a Paranoid, Sadistic Meglomaniac
By Staff and Wire Reports
Jun 14, 2004, 00:22
A new book by a prominent Washington psychoanalyst says President George W.
Bush is a "paranoid meglomaniac" as well as a sadist and "untreated alcoholic."
The doctor's analysis appears to confirm earlier reports the President may be
emotionally unstable.
Dr. Justin Frank, writing in Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the
President, also says the President has a ""lifelong streak of sadism, ranging
from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting
journalists, gloating over state executions ... [and] pumping his fist
gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad."
Even worse, Dr. Frank concludes, the President's years of heavy drinking ""may
have affected his brain function - and his decision to quit drinking without
the help of a 12-step program [puts] him at far higher risk of relapse."
Dr. Frank's revelations comes on the heels of last week's Capitol Hill Blue
exclusive that revealed increasing concern by White House aides over Bush's
emotional stability.
Aides, who spoke only on condition that their names be withheld, told stories
of wide mood swings by the President who would go from quoting the Bible one
minute to obscenity-filled outbursts the next.
Bush shows an inability to grieve - dating back to age 7, when his sister died.
"The family's reaction - no funeral and no mourning - set in motion his
life-long pattern of turning away from pain [and hiding] behind antic
behavior," says Frank, who says Bush may suffer from Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder.
Other findings by Dr. Frank:
His mother, Barbara Bush - tabbed by some family friends as "the one who
instills fear" - had trouble connecting emotionally with her son, Frank argues.
George H.W. Bush's "emotional and physical absence during his son's youth
triggered feelings of both adoration and revenge in George W."
The President suffers from "character pathology," including "grandiosity" and
"megalomania" -- viewing himself, America and God as interchangeable.
Dr. Frank has been a psychiatrist for 35 years and is director of psychiatry at
George Washington University. A Democrat, he once headed the Washington Chapter
of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
In an interview with The Washington Post's Richard Leiby, Dr. Frank said he
began to be concerned about Bush's behavior in 2002.
"I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did
and reading what he wrote, and watching him on videotape. I felt he was
disturbed," Dr. Frank told Leiby. Bush, he said, "fits the profile of a former
drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated."
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publ...icle_4687.shtml (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4687.shtml)
Bush Leagues
Prominent DC Shrink Diagnoses Bush to be a Paranoid, Sadistic Meglomaniac
By Staff and Wire Reports
Jun 14, 2004, 00:22
A new book by a prominent Washington psychoanalyst says President George W.
Bush is a "paranoid meglomaniac" as well as a sadist and "untreated alcoholic."
The doctor's analysis appears to confirm earlier reports the President may be
emotionally unstable.
Dr. Justin Frank, writing in Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the
President, also says the President has a ""lifelong streak of sadism, ranging
from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting
journalists, gloating over state executions ... [and] pumping his fist
gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad."
Even worse, Dr. Frank concludes, the President's years of heavy drinking ""may
have affected his brain function - and his decision to quit drinking without
the help of a 12-step program [puts] him at far higher risk of relapse."
Dr. Frank's revelations comes on the heels of last week's Capitol Hill Blue
exclusive that revealed increasing concern by White House aides over Bush's
emotional stability.
Aides, who spoke only on condition that their names be withheld, told stories
of wide mood swings by the President who would go from quoting the Bible one
minute to obscenity-filled outbursts the next.
Bush shows an inability to grieve - dating back to age 7, when his sister died.
"The family's reaction - no funeral and no mourning - set in motion his
life-long pattern of turning away from pain [and hiding] behind antic
behavior," says Frank, who says Bush may suffer from Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder.
Other findings by Dr. Frank:
His mother, Barbara Bush - tabbed by some family friends as "the one who
instills fear" - had trouble connecting emotionally with her son, Frank argues.
George H.W. Bush's "emotional and physical absence during his son's youth
triggered feelings of both adoration and revenge in George W."
The President suffers from "character pathology," including "grandiosity" and
"megalomania" -- viewing himself, America and God as interchangeable.
Dr. Frank has been a psychiatrist for 35 years and is director of psychiatry at
George Washington University. A Democrat, he once headed the Washington Chapter
of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
In an interview with The Washington Post's Richard Leiby, Dr. Frank said he
began to be concerned about Bush's behavior in 2002.
"I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did
and reading what he wrote, and watching him on videotape. I felt he was
disturbed," Dr. Frank told Leiby. Bush, he said, "fits the profile of a former
drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated."
Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publ...icle_4687.shtml (http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4687.shtml)