Your Guide to Trump's Psychological Profile!

Much has been said about Donald Trump, particularly after his nomination by the Republicans.  Of course, he’s insulted everyone under the sun, disparaged the Muslim parents of a gold star hero, he threw out a baby that was crying at a rally, threatens violence everywhere, and exhibited a knowledge about economics and foreign affairs that is less than that of a 4^th grader.  President Obama has recently said that he is “unfit to be President”.

While this is going on, all of us, whether at the water cooler or a cocktail party, are diagnosing Trump’s behavior and the psychology behind it.   People have called him a “psycho”, “nut-case”, and “crazy”.

So I thought I’d offer up a non-exclusive sampler of genuine psychological and behavioral terms and their meanings, which may be useful in describing Trump’s behavior.  I invite you to create your own diagnosis!

 

Now, there needn’t be just one of these.  Sufferers from these various maladies may have a blend of some or all of these to varying degrees.  You can put together your own profile of Trump based on these.  In a conversation about Trump, as long as you’re not conversing with a Trump supporter, you will be able, with some authority, to provide at least a parlor analysis of what is behind Trump’s curious behavior.

Fair Disclosure: I gathered these terms from Wikipedia.  The links therein will direct you to other aspects and elements of the conditions described.  Also, I hold no credentials in the psychiatric field other than my own studies.

Herewith:

Insanity, craziness, or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person becoming a danger to themselves or others, though not all such acts are considered insanity; likewise, not all acts showing indifference toward societal norms are acts of insanity. In modern usage, insanity is most commonly encountered as an informal unscientific term denoting mental instability, or in the narrow legal context of the insanity defense. In the medical profession the term is now avoided in favor of diagnoses of specific psychiatric diseases; the presence of delusions or hallucinations is broadly referred to as psychosis. When discussing psychiatric illness in general terms, "psychopathology" is considered a preferred  term.

Delusions of Grandeur are principally a subtype of delusional disorder but could possibly feature as a symptom of schizophrenia and manic episodes of bipolar disorder. Grandiose delusions are characterized by fantastical beliefs that one is famous, omnipotent or otherwise very powerful. The delusions are generally fantastic, often with a supernatural, science-fictional, or religious bent. In colloquial usage, one who overestimates one's own abilities, talents, stature or situation is sometimes said to have "delusions of grandeur". This is generally due to excessive pride, rather than any actual delusions. Grandiose delusions or delusions of grandeur can also be associated with megalomania. Treatments have not been well studied. Therapy is often difficult as people frequently do not consider themselves to have a problem. About one percent of people are believed to be affected at some point in their life.  It appears to occur more often in males than females. Grandiose delusions or delusions of grandeur can also be associated with megalomania.


 

Egotism is the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself, and generally features an inflated opinion of one's personal features and importance. It often includes intellectual, physical, social and other overestimations.  The egotist has an overwhelming sense of the centrality of the 'Me', that is to say of their personal qualities.  Egotism means placing oneself at the core of one's world with no concern for others, including those "loved" or considered as "close," in any other terms except those subjectively set by the egotist. 

Sociopathy is traditionally defined as a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy is and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, egotistical traits.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a long term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others' feelings.  People affected by it often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power, success, or their appearance. They often take advantage of the people around them. The behavior typically begins by early adulthood, and occurs across a variety of situations.

Trump Created the Universe in His Image

Egocentrism is the inability to differentiate between self and other. More specifically, it is the inability to untangle subjective schemas from objective reality; an inability to understand or assume any perspective other than their own. Although egocentrism and narcissism appear similar, they are not the same. A person who is egocentric believes they are the center of attention, like a narcissist, but does not receive gratification by one's own admiration. An egotist is a person whose ego is greatly influenced by the approval of others while a narcissist is not.

Delusion: a belief that is held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, or other effects of perception.  Delusions typically occur in the context of neurological or psychiatric disease, although they are not tied to any particular disorder and have been found to occur in the context of many pathological states (both physical and mental). However, they are of particular diagnostic importance in psychotic disorders including schizophrenia, paraphrenia, manic episodes of bipolar disease, and psychotic depression.

 

Delusion of reference: False belief that insignificant remarks, events, or objects are real. Although non-specific concepts of madness have been around for several thousand years, the psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers was the first to define the three main criteria for a belief to be considered delusional in his 1913 book General Psychopathology. These criteria are:

• certainty (held with absolute conviction)
• incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the contrary)
• impossibility or falsity of content (implausible, bizarre, or patently untrue)

Psychosis refers to an abnormal condition of the mind described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". People with psychosis are described as psychotic. People experiencing psychosis may exhibit some personality changes and thought disorder. Depending on its severity, this may be accompanied by unusual or bizarre behavior.  Depending on its severity, this may be accompanied by unusual or bizarre behavior.  People with psychosis are described as psychotic. People experiencing psychosis may exhibit some personality changes and thought disorder.

Pathological lying (also called pseudologia fantastica and mythomania) is a behavior of habitual or compulsive lying. It was first described in the medical literature in 1891 by Anton Delbrueck.  Although it is a controversial topic, pathological lying has been defined as "falsification entirely disproportionate to any discernible end in view, may be extensive and very complicated, and may manifest over a period of years or even a lifetime". The individual may be aware they are lying, or may believe they are telling the truth. Sometimes however, the individual may be lying to make their life seem more exciting when in reality they believe their life is unpleasant or boring.

Pathological lying may also present as false memory syndrome, where the sufferer genuinely believes that fictitious (imagined) events have taken place. The sufferer may believe that he or she has accomplished superhuman feats or awe-inspiring acts of altruism and love — or has committed equally grandiose acts of diabolical evil, for which the sufferer must atone or already has atoned in her/his fantasies.   The sufferer will also exhibit  certainty (held with absolute conviction) and incorrigibility (not changeable by compelling counterargument or proof to the contrary), and the impossibility or falsity of content (implausible, bizarre, or patently untrue) and delusions of grandeur.

Power and dominance is the ability to influence the behavior of other people. When two parties have or assert unequal levels of power, one is termed "dominant" and the other "submissive". Expressions of dominance can communicate intention to assert or maintain dominance in a relationship. Being submissive can be beneficial because it saves time, emotional stress, and may avoid hostile actions such as withholding of resources, cessation of cooperation, termination of the relationship, maintaining a grudge, or even physical violence. 

Belief-bias effect: A situation that occurs when a person's prior knowledge, attitudes, or values distort the reasoning process by influencing the person to accept invalid arguments.

Id: The primitive, unconscious part of the personality that operates irrationally and acts on impulse to pursue pleasure

.

Manic episode: A component of bipolar disorder characterized by periods of extreme elation, unbounded euphoria without sufficient reason, and grandiose thoughts or feelings about personal abilities. The primitive, unconscious part of the personality that operates irrationally and acts on impulse to pursue pleasure.

Ambiguity A perceptual object that may have more than "one interpretation”.

Belief-bias effect: A situation that occurs when a person's prior knowledge, attitudes, or values distort the reasoning process by influencing the person to accept invalid arguments.

 

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of other people. When two parties have or assert unequal levels of power, one is termed "dominant" and the other "submissive". Expressions of dominance can communicate intention to assert or maintain dominance in a relationship. Being submissive can be beneficial because it saves time, emotional stress, and may avoid hostile actions such as withholding of resources, cessation of cooperation, termination of the relationship, maintaining a grudge, or even physical violence. Submission occurs in different degrees; for example, some employees may follow orders without question, whereas others might express disagreement but concede when pressed.

Manic episode: A component of bipolar disorder characterized by periods of extreme elation, unbounded euphoria without sufficient reason, and grandiose thoughts or feelings about personal abilities in one's environment have personal meaning or significance.

So here you have your list.  Make your own Sundae!!